Rebuilding Walls

In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, Babylonian king Artaxerxes allowed some of the Jews who had been held captive to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, and do restorative work to the city.

The people banded together under Nehemiah to rebuild the damaged and broken wall around the city. They all worked together, and in a short time, had the wall back in place, repaired.

In Chapter three, verse 20, Baruch, son of Zabbai, Zealously repaired another section.

These people worked together, and separately to do this mighty task. One must remember that the stones of which the wall is made are very large. Some as big as a piano, some as large as an automobile. But they did it.

As an illustration, suppose the sidewalk on your block has fallen into disrepair. You, as a neighborhood, petition the city to repair it. So the city comes and tears it out.  Then it says, “Here is the concrete, and material. Fix it, or it doesn’t get fixed.”   So everybody on the block sets forms, and pours and smooths the concrete in front of their own house. Voila! The sidewalk on the whole block is re-paved.  In some places it is better than others, and in some places the work has been done zealously.

The people put this wall around Jerusalem together. It was a damaged wall. In many places it was destroyed.  And like our lives; Sometimes they are damaged. But through the grace of God, and through the repairing work that God has given us to do, and the methods that God has given us, through prayer, and meditation, through introspection, and these things, God has given us a way to repair our lives. Our Spiritual lives. If we have fallen away from The Lord, he has given us a means by which we can repair our own spiritual lives.

Sometimes we have done damage to our families. Usually unknowingly, we have said things and done things that have hurt the feelings of the people we love. He gives us an opportunity to repair those breaks in the walls of our relationships.  But we have to do it. 

He buys the concrete, but we have to put it down. We have to lay it. He gives us the directions how to do it,  but we have to pick up the bricks and lay them in place. We have to put the mortar in place and see to it that the bricks are zealously laid, and all those bricks are aligned.

Sometimes when we start to rebuild our lives, the bricks are kind of uneven. But as we gain knowledge in God’s Word, and as we begin to grow in God’s Word, and as we begin to grow in grace and faith, the bricks of our repairs become smooth and straight, because God is in it.

That’s my message for today