As the story of Nehemiah continues, a matter of heart-wrenching social injustice surfaces during the massive building project. Many of the poor in Jerusalem and the surrounding area are struggling in a season of famine. To put food on the table, some of them have gone deeply in debt, even resorting to selling their own children into slavery. Others are all to happy to seize the advantage at the desperate expense of the poor. Nehemiah, representing the generous and compassionate justice of God, instructs that unjust debts be canceled, leads the way in righteous lending, and blesses the poor generously at his own expense. We see in Nehemiah a beautiful and powerful example of God's grace leading us beyond mere forgiveness of debts and into deeply sacrificial blessing. God's heart for us and for those around us is the same today as it was then: costly forgiveness, compassionate grace, and radical generosity.