Joining Jesus – 15th April 2019

4. Build Up
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
“LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:1-11
When Nehemiah heard the words: “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” He spent time on his knees! Then, having prayed, he went and did what God wanted Him to do! Indeed, his prayer was specific, he asked God to convince the King to allow him to be given time away from his duty as cupbearer so that he could go to Jerusalem and oversee the rebuilding of the wall.
Prayer should never be a replacement for action!
The ‘action’ that Nehemiah engaged in was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that those who had returned from the exile could live there without trouble from their enemies and the disgrace of living in an unprotected ruin. For the trouble to be averted and for the disgrace to be replaced with dignity it was VITAL THAT THE WALL BE REBUILT.
Nehemiah’s task was by no means easy, it was a huge undertaking in the midst of an enemy occupied area and the enemies continually taunted Nehemiah and his efforts.
One example of this taunting is from Tobiah the Ammonite who said:
“What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
As Nehemiah served God, the people around him made it very difficult, they ridiculed his best efforts!
For us, Like Nehemiah, serving God is rarely the easy option, it frequently puts us into situations where people oppose us and even ridicule us. This leads many of us to become inactive, we live out our faith ‘in secret’ and stay away from people that we think will oppose us.
In spite of opposition, Nehemiah carried on building the wall! The outcome of his perseverance is recorded as follows:
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Nehemiah 6:15,16
I find this such an encouragement. The very people who mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah lost their arrogant swagger when the wall was completed. This was because they realized that Nehemiah had not accomplished this alone, God had helped him.
As we seek to join Jesus in His Mission and build His Kingdom there will always be those that oppose and ridicule us. Jesus told us that as he was rejected, we too would be rejected! He also promised to be with us through until the end!
I encourage you, as you reflect on the story of Nehemiah, to remember that Jesus is with you wherever you go and whoever you are among. Like Nehemiah, keep on building!