Nehemiah has come to be known as the Bible's management guide. It is filled with sound principles for leadership and bringing a seemingly impossible project to completion on-time, within budget, and according to specification - the dream of any good project manager, whether constructing a missile or building a family.
But within these principles comes a specific challenge - to do what God has placed before you, even when the odds are against you, and even when the people are against you. Nehemiah accomplished in 52 days what had not been accomplished in 94 years since the first exiles returned. He did it by knowing that God had called him to the task and by knowing the God who called him. His task was bathed in prayer and persistence. When the job was done, we read that Nehemiah's opponents "lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God." (6:16)
