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.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

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!

One hundred and fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the city's wall still lay in ruins. 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 remained broken, open, and vulnerable to enemy 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, son of Hachaliah from the tribe of Judah, served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. Though raised in exile, he became closely attached to the Persian court, where he held a position of importance, trust, and influence.

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 first, he was a man of faith and prayer. Despite his high position in Persia and the fact that he had never been to Jerusalem, Nehemiah's heart was burdened for God's people and the city of God.

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

When he heard of the people's disgrace and the condition of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was overcome with grief. He repented and mourned, fasting and praying before God. During that time, a conviction began to grow within him to undertake the huge task of rebuilding.

Yet Nehemiah was not his own master. It was difficult to gain a high position in the Persian palace, but even more difficult to leave one.

So, Nehemiah prayed for God to grant him favour with the king. And God sovereignly moved the heart of King Artaxerxes. The fate of Jerusalem did not lie in the hands of the most powerful monarch of that day, but entirely 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 to accomplish it. Not only did the king agree to let Nehemiah go, but he also granted him safe passage, protection, and provision. It took Nehemiah three months to reach Jerusalem. After three days, he quietly inspected the city's wall.

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 to rebuild had come, and He moved people's hearts to accomplish His purpose. First, Nehemiah's, then the king's, and finally 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. - Trusting God, J. Bridges

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

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

He was a leader people willingly 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 divided the rebuilding among different work parties, assigning each of the forty-two groups to repair the section of wall nearest their own homes. All worked simultaneously, with each group responsible for their section of the wall. And the people worked with all their heart.

But as soon as the rebuilding began, so did the opposition.

The rebuilding of the wall enraged their enemies. They mocked, insulted, and ridiculed their effort.

How did Nehemiah respond?

He kept praying. He kept building.

And soon, the insults of Sanballat and Tobiah began to sound foolish as the wall of Jerusalem rose higher and higher, day by day.

When insults failed, the ridicule took a more menacing form. Insults became threats, and contempt turned into plots. A powerful alliance began to form - Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites. Mutual enemies became unlikely friends, united by a single purpose: to bring the rebuilding to an end.

So, what did Nehemiah do?

He kept praying. He kept building.

But he also set a watch day and night.

And every one of them worked with one hand while holding a weapon in the other.

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

And God frustrated the plot of His enemies. Despite fierce opposition, the wall was completed in less than two months. What had lain in ruins for many years was rebuilt, and the city's safety 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. - Explore the Book, J. S. Baxter

God Can Rewrite Your Story

Israel was sent into exile because of persistent disobedience, rebellion against God, and idolatry. There are always consequences for sin, and the price is high.

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 would they be corrupted by the false gods of the surrounding nations.

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

God, the Master Builder, can rebuild and rewrite your 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 attacks.

Guard your heart, your mind, your actions.

And trust God to 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