A Time to Rebuild...

'For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven;

a time to break down, and a time to build up...'

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3b ASV

Nehemiah 1-4

There are seasons in our lives, times of blessing and times of trials and testing.

But God has a purpose for every single season.

Don't miss the purpose of the season!

Don't miss the fruit of the season!

Most often, it is amid difficult circumstances that God's greatest work is done, in us and through us.

How much we owe to the difficulties and setbacks, the obstructions and oppositions, which have been permitted to try us! The things which we have thought were breaking us were in reality making us. - J. S. Baxter

A Sad State of Affairs - But Only for a Season!

150 years after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, the wall of the city was still in rubble. As prophesied, a small remnant of the Jews had returned to the Promised Land seventy years after the exile and rebuilt the temple. But the city still lay in ruins and was open and vulnerable to the enemies' attacks.

'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.'

Nehemiah 1:3

Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, of the tribe of Judah, was a cupbearer to the king of Persia, Artaxerxes. Although raised in exile, he became attached to the Persian court, where he held a position of importance, trust, and influence with the king.

Real godliness is not incompatible with earthly success. Indeed, it often happens that godliness is a first factor in promoting and furthering such success. - J. S. Baxter

We often remember Nehemiah as a great leader, but Nehemiah was first a man of faith and a man of prayer.

Even if he had a high position in Persia and even if he had never been to Jerusalem, Nehemiah's heart was concerned for God's people and for the city of God.

God was going to use Nehemiah, but first, God did a work in Nehemiah.

At hearing the disgrace of the people and the condition of Jerusalem, he was overcome with grief, repented and mourned, fasted and prayed before God. It was during this time that the conviction grew in himself that he should undertake the huge task of rebuilding.

Still, Nehemiah was not his own master.

It was difficult to get a high position in the Persian palace, but it was even more difficult to leave.

Nehemiah prayed for God to grant him favour with the king, and God sovereignly influenced King Artaxerxes.

The fate of Jerusalem was not in the hands of the most powerful monarch of that day, but completely in the hands of God.

'The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.' Proverbs 21:1

A Time to Rebuild

When God places a burden on someone's heart to fulfil a task, he also provides the means for the task to be fulfilled. Not only did the king agree to let Nehemiah go, but he also provided safe passage, protection, and provision. It took Nehemiah three months to reach Jerusalem, and after three days, he inspected the wall of the city.

'I set out during the night with a few others.

I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.'

Nehemiah 2:12

The desire to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem was first a work of God upon Nehemiah's heart.

In God's timeline, the time had come to rebuild, and he moved people's hearts in order to accomplish his purpose. First Nehemiah's, then the King's, then the hearts of the people who responded to the call to rebuild.

Then I said to them,

'You see the trouble we are in:

Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.

Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.'

I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me

and what the king had said to me.

They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.'

So they began this good work.'

Nehemiah 2:17-18

We can trust God. He does sovereignly intervene in the hearts of people so that they make decisions and carry out actions that accomplish His purpose for our lives. Yet God does this in such a way that these people make their decisions and carry out their plans by their own free and voluntary choices. - J. Bridges

Nehemiah was not only spiritual but also practical, wise, and discerning. He understood that there would be opposition and prepared for it in advance. He had a working plan before he even revealed his intentions.

A man of unwavering integrity, Nehemiah was undaunted by false accusations, as his reputation and faithful service to the king preceded him.

He was a leader whom people followed.

Not because of his rank, intelligence, or his charisma, but because his heart was for the things of God, and it was evident to all that the hand of God was upon him.

A Battle at Hand

There is no winning without warfare; there is no opportunity without opposition; there is no victory without vigilance. For whenever the people of God say, 'Let us arise and build,' Satan says, 'Let me arise and oppose. - Redpath

Nehemiah was a brilliant organiser. He sectionised the rebuilding among different work parties. He set each of the forty-two different working groups to work on that part of the wall which was nearest to their homes. All worked simultaneously, and each was responsible for their own section of the wall.

And the people worked with all their heart.

But as soon as the rebuilding work started, the opposition began.

The rebuilding of the wall made their enemies angry, enraged. They made fun of, insulted, and ridiculed their efforts.

How did Nehemiah answer?

He kept on praying and he kept on building.

And Sanballat and Tobiah's insults soon began to sound foolish as the walls of Jerusalem rose higher and higher every day.

When insults failed, the ridicule took a more menacing form. Insults became threats, and contempt turned into plots. The opposition had now developed into a strong alliance - Sanballat, Tobiah, Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites. Mutual enemies became mutual friends in order to make common cause against God's people.

And their purpose was clear - to put an end to the work.

What did Nehemiah do?

He kept on praying and he kept on building, but he also set a watch against them day and night. And every one of them worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other hand.

Nehemiah's faith encouraged and inspired others. He trusted that God would grant success, recognising the rebuilding work was not his own but ultimately God's.

And God frustrated the plot of his enemies.

Despite facing opposition, the wall was completed in less than two months.

What had lain in ruins for many years was rebuilt, and the safety of the city was restored.

How different a story the rebuilding of Jerusalem might have been if that huge burden and hazard had fallen to a man of a different caliber from Nehemiah! Yet it is not only the man who makes the story. It is almost equally true that the story makes the man. The perils and problems of the undertaking bring out all that is finest in the man. - J. S. Baxter

Israel went into exile due to their persistent disobedience, rebellion against God, and idolatry. There are always consequences for sin and a high price to pay.

But the exile was for a season, as decreed by God, and it achieved at least one purpose - it cured Israel of idolatry. Never again were they corrupted by the false gods of the surrounding nations.

Then God brought back his people, restored their worship, and rebuilt Jerusalem.

God, the Master builder, can rebuild and rewrite your broken story.

Let this be the season when the walls of your life are built up.

Don't be discouraged by the rubble.

Close the gaps where you are vulnerable to the enemy's attack.

Guard your heart, your mind, your actions.

And let God lead you into a season of peace and abundant blessings.

When I was converted, I made this mistake. I thought the battle was already mine, the victory already won, the crown already in my grasp. I thought the old things have passed away, that all things have become new and that my old corrupt nature, the old life was gone. But I found out after serving Christ for a few months that conversion was only like enlisting in the army, that there was a battle at hand. - D.L. Moody