Day 29 – Strengthen me. How does Nehemiah respond? Check this out. Read Nehemiah 6:8-9. Then I sent a message to him saying, “Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.” For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Nehemiah 6:8‭-‬9 NASB https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.6.8-9.NASB There are two things here that Nehemiah does to respond. Lies are being spread about him and shared among the entire Kingdom. Yet Nehemiah’s only focus is on these two things. The first, he…

Day 28 – Opposition continues. It didn’t stop, it just changed tactics. Read Nehemiah 6:5-7. Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports. You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, ‘A king is in Judah!’ And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take…

Day 27 – Persistent opposition. They just kept on and on. Read Nehemiah 6:1-4. Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the…

Day 26 – Remember. Nehemiah relates what he has been doing, but then makes it very clear that he is only intrested in God remembering what he did, not other people. Read Nehemiah 5:16-19. I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once in…

Day 25 – Fear of God. Why did Nehemiah do what was right? He feared God. Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance. But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God. Nehemiah 5:14‭-‬15 NASB https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.5.14-15.NASB Sure, others had done things…

Day 24 – Praise. After there was repentance, there was praise. Read Nehemiah 5:12-13. Then they said, “We will give it back and will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. I also shook out the front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord . Then the people did…

Day 23 – Give it all back. Read Nehemiah 5:7-11. I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, “You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. I said to them, “We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God…

Day 22 – Anger is not sin. When Nehemiah found out what was happening, he became angry. Read Nehemiah 5:6-7. Then I was very angry when I had heard their outcry and these words. I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, “You are exacting usury, each from his brother!” Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. Nehemiah 5:6‭-‬7 NASB https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.5.6-7.NASB Anger itself is not sin. We need to understand that there are things in this world that make God angry. Sin angers God. And because sin angers God, sin should anger us as well. Are we actively seeking to eliminate…

Day 21 – Sin. Not all problems come from outside, sometimes they come from inside. Read Nehemiah 5:1-5. Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.” There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is like the…

Day 20 – Ready. As the people were doing the work they had to be ready. Read Nehemiah 4:21-23. So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.” So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water. Nehemiah 4:21‭-‬23 NASB https://bible.com/bible/100/neh.4.21-23.NASB The people had…