When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:4 (NIV)
THE ENEMY'S PLAYBOOK
Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap - and charred ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”
Nehemiah 4:1-3 (NLT)
First, the goal is to you.
At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion ... They were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”
Nehemiah 4:6-8+11 (NLT)
Then, the goal is to you.
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained - though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at Kephirim in the plain of Ono.
Nehemiah 6:1-2 (NLT)
Finally, the goal is to you.