Nehemiah had inspired his people to keep going, they were armed for battle and prayerful in their work as they rebuilt the wall. But the opposition did not die down, indeed it increased, and chapter 6 outlines some of the tactics used.

We re-join the story as Nehemiah begins to rebuild the wall. He had to assess the situation and envision the people to do the work. But he encounters opposition. Earlier in the book Nehemiah has described how Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab had initially opposed the rebuilding work.

We love stories in part because of the dramatic moments, and Nehemiah includes a moment of great suspense at the start of chapter 4. It was four months between his praying and fasting and this moment that comes when Nehemiah was able to ask the king for help.

Nehemiah is clear in what he should do about the broken-down walls back in his people’s home city of Jerusalem. Having spent the time in prayer and fasting we can now read his recorded prayer to God, which includes the way in which he saw the justice of God’s action in His judgment of the people.

The idea of compassion fatigue was coined by a nurse in 1992 to describe the feeling of burnout that comes to those in the caring profession. The idea has been extended to include how people respond to news of unpleasant things that happen around the world.

The parable of the fine pearl seems very similar to the treasure hidden in the field in verse 44. Why is Jesus repeating Himself? But there is a contrast. With the treasure in the field the implication is that the man comes across the treasure.

Who needs lots of words to make a point? In just two sentences in our English Bible, Jesus summarises the gospel! We can over-elaborate, but the meaning is pretty clear. If we really grasp what the kingdom of heaven is, there is nothing on earth that we would want more.

Imitating your heroes is a standard game for most children. Maybe you can recall pretending to be a TV star or sporting hero in your playtime? But we soon grew out of this and learn to be ourselves – indeed, if people today think they are someone else we assume that there must be a mental health issue there somewhere.

As my good friend used to say with a glint in his eye: ‘God blesses all the wrong people!’ We might like to think that only the churches that we agree with receive the blessing of God – after all, we have come to our treasured view with so much thought and prayer that God is bound to bless us and churches like us!

Psychologists talk of the importance of reframing. This has various guises but includes the taking of a situation that may appear to be negative and ‘reframing’ it so that we see the positives.