The wall was completed in record time – 52 days! (6:15) No wonder Sanballat and the others were alarmed and feeling threatened!
A factor was the people "had a mind to work". When God’s people work together in a spirit of unity and oneness, anything is possible.
Remember the analogy of the body (Eph. 4:16)
Example of the early church – they were "of one heart and soul" (Acts 4:32)
A new battle plan
The enemies of Israel were literally on all side (4:8)
Nehemiah’s response? What else! "We prayed to our God" (4:9)
And then, a guard was posted. (4:9) How many times have we seen this? Prayer followed by action. But remember, action is not taken to cover our bets, to help God out, but instead we pray and then step out in faith and courage
The struggle was just beginning
Intense fatigue – they’ve accomplished a lot in a short time (4:10)
Double duty – people stood guard, reducing the work crews. It seemed the piles of rubble were getting bigger when they really had been rapidly getting smaller (4:10)
Problem of paranoia – like last week, the taunts and threats and whispers (4:11,12)
The pressure mounts
Living together, or dying together (4:13)
Dealing with fear – it’s also the first part of the prayer process! Remember the Lord who is great and awesome! (4:14)
Remembering the Lord also means remembering what He has done in the past
Nehemiah was an effective leader because his words matched his life. Otherwise, we’re like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal (I Cor. 13:1)
To God be the glory
Even the enemies knew who it was that had frustrated their plans (4:15)
Shining like stars in the universe (Phillip. 2:15)
3 Principles
#1) It’s often more difficult to complete the second half of a task than the first half
#2)
Fatigue combined with uncertainty makes it difficult to correctly evaluate reality
#3)
Effective leadership involves both modeling and exhortation
