Informed by Nehemiah 4:1-5, where unbelievers mocked the progress of Nehemiah's men, this episode exhorts believers struggling with sin to surround themselves with spiritual saints who edify, even in their rebuke. Too often, believers, particularly those young in the faith, take the judgmental narrative of unbelieving critics to heart and become discouraged and despondent over their apparent lack of spiritual progress. "If a fox walked on top of their Christian wall, it would immediately crumble." But this assessment contrasts sharply with that of spiritual believers, who come along to gently restore and would never condemn the halting progress of a struggling believer. The episode calls struggling believers (all of us!) to surround themselves with godly saints who embrace God's narrative and speak it back to us as we all run the Christian race.
