Nehemiah completes his work
We learn in chapter 5 of Nehemiah that the government was overtaxing the Jews. Nehemiah's response to this had various stages. First, he was angry. Then he thought about it. Let's pause here. How many of us give in to anger over injustice only to "live" there instead of regrouping and giving it thought? Do we tend to let our emotions get the best of us? Or do we move on into rational thought instead? It's hard to do sometimes, but very possible! Nehemiah's response after he gave it some thought was to confront the powers that be over their misdeeds. He told them flat out that they were taking advantage of his people. He said directly, "The thing that you are doing is not good." (v 9) That took guts! Then, Nehemiah told the governor to fear God and restore to the Jews everything they had stolen from them. It's like they needed to be told, like children, right from wrong, and how to rectify their wrongdoing. And they listened and did what