Sanballat and Tobiah start with mockery.

"What are these feeble Jews doing?"

When mockery doesn't stop the work, they move to threats. Before long the men on the wall are working with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other.

Here is what Nehemiah never gets: an explanation.

Nowhere does God stop and tell him why the opposition was allowed, or why it had to be that hard, or why those particular men. He keeps building with what he has.

We assume that faithfulness eventually produces answers. Sometimes it does.

But some questions stay open, and you build anyway.

Jesus said, "For those who have ears to hear, let them hear."