“I am doing a great work so that I cannot come "down": why should the work cease while I leave it?” Nehemiah "6":3
When the nation of Israel had so sinned that God must give them into captivity He was already making His own plans to restore them to their land again. Among the instruments whom He prepared for this purpose was Nehemiah a man whose spirit was in the land of God’s promise even while he himself served as a captive exile in the Persian palace of Shushan.<br/><br/>In asking the king for permission to return to Judah Nehemiah knew he was risking his life. He succeeded in his request but as he set out on his journey he could hardly have foreseen the opposition he would meet on his arrival there. Yet whatever the enticements he never once deviated from his “great work” of building for God. Steadfastness of purpose marked him. It is also our secret of spiritual triumph.