What God Starts, He Finishes

I love to start. I hate to finish. Well, I don’t so much hate to finish as I quit when a project gets hard. For years, my life was filled with all the stuff I started but dropped when they weren’t fun anymore. Books. Crafts. Jobs around the house. When the going got tough, I got going alright. I got going doing something else. Nehemiah has a front row seat to watch God at work. And whatever He starts, He finishes. Take rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem for example. For 141 years, the city’s fortification was a pile of rubble. But something crazy happens once God gets ahold of the wine steward to a pagan king. He gives Nehemiah the vision of what could be. he gives Nehemiah the vision of what should be. God consistently reminds the cupbearer that He’s got him and this project firmly in His grip. Nehemiah gets involved and places his trust in the LORD to get it done. And just 52 days after God’s people start rebuilding the walls, it’s done. That’s because whatever God starts, He finishes.

As the Hebrew work crew begins to wrap up their final day on the job site, don’t think that this project has been smooth sailing. Far from it. Nehemiah has led God’s people through discouragement, fatigue, famine, a mortgage meltdown, the threat of terrorist attack, as well as repeated intimidation and sabotage from enemies on every side. But each and every time, the governor turns to God in prayer (Neh 1:4-11; 2:4; 4:4-5, 9, 14; 5:19; 6:9). While the work is harder than he realizes, he repeatedly turns to the One who does the real heavy lifting. Nehemiah trusts that whatever God starts, He finishes.

It’s late summer of the year 445 BC. A quick check of the calendar tells us it’s the “the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul” (v15). Interestingly, this is the only time this month is ever mentioned in the Bible. If you don’t have a Hebrew calendar (I know I don’t!), this is late September. There’s a buzz in the air. There’s excitement among the construction crew. This is it.  “So the wall was finished” (v15)! The huge stone walls are done. The massive wooden gates hang in place. It’s the end of the project! Pop the cork on the champagne!! This is a big day in the history of God’s people. A hundred years or so back, Daniel predicted this moment would come (Dan 9:25). It’s an important step in God’s mega-story of coming to the rescue of mankind. 

Nehemiah lets us know that the job is wrapped up. He chooses to use the Hebrew verb shalam. If it looks like the term shalom, you’re on to something. It means to complete, to be whole, to be restored, to be at peace, or to be perfect. It describes a state of completion and fulfillment, wholeness and unity. The walls are finally complete and restored. The people of Judah finally have a sense of peace and wholeness. What God did for Jerusalem, He promises to do for you and me. Jesus gives you and me an incredible sense of wholeness, completion, and restoration.  In Him, we’re no longer anxious but have peace. Don’t fall for the myth of Jerry Maguire. Your boyfriend or girlfriend can’t complete you. That job belongs to Jesus. Whatever God starts, He finishes.

Incredibly, the Jerusalem wall project wraps up “in fifty two days” (v15). Yeah, you read that right. Fifty. Two. Days. The work kicked off earlier in the summer on the fourth of Ab (July/August) in 445 BC. Let’s step back and put this into historical perspective. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the walls way back in 586 BC. After the city lie in rubble for 141 years, God breaks Nehemiah’s heart with the breaking news about the broken walls (Neh 1:1-3). Just 10 months later, God uses this wine-steward-turned-governor to rebuild the walls in just 52 days. And some people believe there are no miracles in the book of Nehemiah. Please.

So just what happens when the word gets out that the work is done? Glad you asked. “And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem” (v16). It’s the day their enemies had been dreading. Nehemiah uses very similar phrasing to when people previously get wind of what’s going down in Jerusalem (Neh 2:10, 19; 4:1, 7; 6:1). And when he refers to these folks as “our enemies” (v16), he’s using this as a junk drawer term to describe everyone who opposed and persecuted the people of Judah. Just a refresher on the roster of the those playing for the other team, we’re talking about Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites. Remember when they laughed at Nehemiah and said it couldn’t be done (Neh 4:1-3)? The job was too big, they said. Well, the city is no longer a local joke. They’re not so cocky anymore. Or in the words of The Message, “our enemies totally lost their nerve” (v16 The Message). The walls are up. The smack talk has stopped. 

It wasn’t just the completion of the walls that stuff a sock in Sanballat and this toadies. They knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a whole lot more than bringing in a new governor. “For they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (v16). These enemies realize Nehemiah’s different because Nehemiah’s trust is in the LORD. And there’s another interesting tidbit when you look at the original language. The author literally writes “this work was done by our God” (v16). He didn’t help. He wasn’t assisting. God did the work. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and their gang certainly understand that. It’s interesting that some of the people testifying to God’s direct involvement in the wall project are His enemies. Now THAT’S what I call working in mysterious ways!

What a great lesson in being ready and willing to be used by God. Once again we see that Jesus isn’t looking for ability, but availability. Nehemiah’s cupbearer to a pagan king. What in the world does he know about a massive civil engineering project like rebuilding the city walls of Jerusalem? But God’s people can do accomplish mind-blowing goals when they allow God to use them. Nehemiah’s God-given vision for Jerusalem has come true. Don’t let the size of the work keep you from what the LORD leads you to do. We can always count on God to get it done. Because what God starts, He finishes.