It took Nehemiah fifty-two days to complete the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Within that time Nehemiah faced intimidation in various ways. He was ridiculed. He was lied against. He was accused of trying to impose himself as king. He was served wrong prophecy which was designed to lead him to a wrong cause of action and sin. Despite all these, Nehemiah prevailed and completed the task. Our interest in this meditation is to find out how he managed to pull through. Though he was a careful planner and manager, his main strength was derived from his prayer life. Nehemiah had just one response to all that the enemies threw at him — prayer. When he was ridiculed and dismissed with a wave of hand, he prayed. When a false prophet was hired against him, he prayed.

“Getting God to collaborate with us is one reason we pray…The intimidators became intimidated; because a man prayed and drew down necessary resources from God. “

No matter how good anyone’s intention is, no one can pull through alone. There is need for divine collaboration. In other words, God has to be in the picture; otherwise all efforts will only produce weariness to the soul. Getting God to collaborate with us is one reason we pray. When we pray, we not only admit our inadequacies but also invite the Spirit of grace through whom we can subdue mountains. Prayer connects us with the mind of God, so we know what needs to be done. However, it is one thing to know what to do and quite another to have the strength to do it. It is also in the hour of prayer that strength is supplied so we can go through. All these and more were Nehemiah’s experience. The second part of our text shows that the enemies were stupefied seeing what they thought was impossible standing before them. The intimidators became intimidated; because a man prayed and drew down necessary resources from God.