May 21 - Nehemiah 4-7

In the midst of rebuilding the wall, a man named Sanballat, ridiculed the Jews for the work they were doing.  He criticized and mocked them and threatened to destroy their work.  Nehemiah prayed to God for strength and wisdom, and God answered his prayers.  He, and the Jews that were rebuilding the wall, continued to work with their armor and weapons close in case anyone tried to stop them. 
Now, many of the Jews that were in Jerusalem were complaining about the famine.  They were experiencing hard times and needed food, money, etc..  Some of the Jews were angry because they were selling their sons and daughters in order to eat and pay taxes.  Nehemiah called them out on their complaints.  He said that what they were doing was unneccessary and not right.  He challenged them to be God-fearing people and let the Lord take care of them.  The people took an oath to do as Nehemiah said and things started to turn around pretty quickly. 
Nehemiah and the Jews were again threatened during their rebuilding efforts.  Nehemiah stuck to his guns, knowing that Sanballat and his people were trying to get him fired up.  He figured they were trying to get him to commit a sin, but he wasn't going to have any part of that.  After 52 days the wall was completed.  Doubters began to lose their self-confidence because they realized this was built with God's help.  The city was now ready.  It was huge, but needed more people.  We get a complete list of the all of the people that returned to the cities within the wall that was now complete.