“No Quick Fixes”

Nehemiah 2: 6: “Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, ‘How long will your journey be, and when will you return?’ So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time.” As we read the story we find that it took Nehemiah and the people fifty-two days to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 6: 15) Yet he stayed in the city for twelve years (Nehemiah 5: 14), and later returned for a second stint. It seems this is the time he gave to the king at the beginning. He was sent to Jerusalem by the king, not just as a wall-builder, but as a governor, and both knew that that job was going to take a bit longer than a couple of months.