They knew this was God’s work

And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God. – Nehemiah 6v16

Finally the enemies and the opposition realised that people in Jerusalem were serious. Despite all of the taunts, the mocking, the attacks, the lies, the deception, and the treachery the people in Jerusalem continued the work. After 52 days work the wall was finished.

When the work was done the enemies and people of the land heard of the completion of the work they were discouraged because then they knew that the work was done, not only by men, but by God.

The relatively mundane work of rebuilding some city wall was enough to convince people that the God of Judah was real and that He was actively involved in the lives of His people.

No one can argue with dogged determination to carry out a task until it is finished. There was an advantage here that all along Nehemiah and the others had been telling everyone that this was God’s work. They said they had to stay at it because the work was not theirs, but His.

People watch our lives today. When we try to live for Christ there are going to be sceptics and mockers. People are going to question the reality of God’s working. Some are going to say that it is just a passing phase. Some will question our motivation. It will often be tempting to quit and go back.

Only by enduring and sticking to it can we show people that the work in our lives is God’s work. We must stay at it. We must continue to trust God and let Him work in our lives. Then people will have to say of us that the work done in our lives was done by God.