Nehemiah 2:18 "Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work."
I go back to this verse in the 2nd chapter to show God is unchanging. We
may, at times, feel like God has forsaken us. We know, by the Word of God, that
He has promised never to leave us and never to turn His back upon us. But
we often need reminding.
In the 6th chapter, the adversaries tried to entice Nehemiah to go into
their territory. They surely meant to do him harm. When that didn't work,
they made false accusations against him. They accused him of trying to
overthrow the authority of the king. Nehemiah knew that he had letters from the
king giving him permission to do this work.
When that didn't work, they tried to use influential power to discourage
Nehemiah. Remember Tobiah? He and Sanballat are the ring leaders against
Nehemiah and the building project. Tobiah was the son-in-law of one of the
prominent men involved with the building. Because of this, many people swore
their allegiance to him. Apparently he was very persuasive. Does that remind
you of any of the wiles of Satan? He is very persuasive.
Now, the reason I went back to the verse in Chapter 2 is because this is
what Nehemiah had to constantly remind himself: "the hand of my God
... was good upon me." We can be positive and move in the
right direction as long as we are assured of God's hand being on us. He
is faithful to His Word. We can trust Him in all matters.