Rebuilding with Nehemiah - What's Our Response?

Nehemiah 1: 4 -7 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said:
"O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 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 house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Once Nehemiah identified that the ruins in Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt He immediately went to the Lord. “He sat down and wept” says to me that he was overcome with emotion – sadness and grief. His grief lead him to mourn, fast and pray for days.

What does looking at the ruins in our lives motivate us to do? Give up? Eat?

Go shopping? Rationalize, compare or minimize? We do something with those emotions when we feel them. I can remember feeling sorry for myself at one point and wallowing in self-pity. It didn’t help my situation but it was my reaction.

Another thing that can happen is that we tell ourselves some lies or listen to the lies of the enemy being whispered to our spirit. “This is impossible, too hard, I could never rebuild this area of my life; I’ll just have to move on and make the best of it.” Or, we dive in to fix it with the self-help books, advice from friends and move gung ho forward only to find ourselves defeated after a few weeks.

But Nehemiah had the right idea. He experienced the pain of his loss by mourning instead of stuffing the pain with an activity, food or busyness. He allowed himself to cry deeply over the loss of the gates of security and the crumpled walls of protection of his beloved city -- the majestic city of the Lord.

The gates and walls being in appalling condition was a reflection of his God, his roots and people. It affected him deeply.

The conditions of our lives reflect our God. What is being reflected? Do our lives reflect the Mighty Host of Heaven – His power, majesty, mercy, grace, faithfulness and goodness? Yes, we are a work in progress but is progress happening. Are we ignoring some area of ruins because it’s too messy or it will require too much of us.

Maybe we need to follow Nehemiah’s example in verses four through seven and pray, confess our sins and ask forgiveness for the sins committed against us. Confession is always a good place to start. Confess that area of ruins. Confess our denial of our ruins. Confess our need to rebuild. Confess that God is great enough to guide us and help us in the rebuilding process.

Rebuilding - Caring Enough to Ask

God is in the redeeming, restoring, rebuilding business. He doesn’t throw us away. He restores what the enemy has stolen, the ruins from abuse of the past and what we have left open to the enemy through disobedience. God wants to rebuild. However, he uses us to do the work of restoring and rebuilding. He rebuilds relationships, marriages, families, ministries, -- anything. Do you have anything that needs restored or rebuilt?

I remember when I used to sew that I hated having to remove seams of stitches because I had done something wrong or it didn’t fit. I would almost rather start all over than rip open those seams. It was painstaking work. I had to be careful not to destroy the material by pulling too hard or getting the seam ripper caught in the material. Frustration would mount each time I had to use the seam ripper. I loved to sew but I hated ripping out seams.

Sometimes we just give up instead of restoring or rebuilding because the work is so difficult. We live in an instant culture that expects instant results. It’s easier to buy something new than try to restore or repair. Besides, we just don’t have the time or expertise. Isn’t my time is worth the money it costs to replace rather than restore? I have an old dresser that I love and has sentimental value that needs refinished. I don’t know how, time is of essence and I don’t have the strength in my right hand to do the work. I really would love to restore it. Maybe you have something in your life that needs restored.

I’m studying Nehemiah right now and he has much to teach us about restoring or rebuilding that which was ruined. For the next few newsletters and posts on the Calvary Circle of Friends Blog I will be sharing some things I’m learning about rebuilding. I hope you will join me for the journey.

The first thing that stood out to me was that Nehemiah inquired about the condition of Jerusalem and the exiles there. Nehemiah knew that Jerusalem had been ravaged by the enemy and left in ruins. He and others had been taken captive and were slaves in another land. But, Nehemiah cared enough to ask his visiting brothers. Sometimes we just don’t care. We’re afraid it will cost us something so we just turn our heads the other way. We live in denial of the ruins in our life and just keep walking in the midst of them.

I challenge you to inquire of the Lord. Ask him if there are any “ruins” in your life. It may be areas that the enemy has ravaged in the past that you may have tried to rebuild but it was too difficult so you gave up. It could be your self-worth or identity. It could be a gift or talent you are not using for some reason. It could be your body, marriage, family, future.

David asked the Lord to search his heart to see if there was any wicked way in him. Wicked ways are not ways led by the Spirit so we need to get rid of them and rebuild ways of the Spirit. At least ask – inquire of the Lord and listen. Caring enough to ask is the first step to rebuilding.