Bible Studies

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All Hands on the Wall



My youngest son is a Lego maniac. He can sit for hours building, creating and showing me every one of them! I sit sometimes and build with him. Our creations differ much from one another’s; his seem to serve a purpose, they fly, drive and crash (with all the sound affects mind you). Me - I am going for color coordination and beauty in the design. It is so interesting to see what can be made out of those multi shaped pieces all over the floor.

Have you ever felt that your life was like those Lego pieces? Different colors and shapes and all messy on the floor? A heap of this and that, not knowing what to make of it?

This is much like what the Jewish nation found when they returned to Jerusalem after the quite lengthy captivity in Babylon. I have had my head and heart in the book of Nehemiah. Yes, that smaller book hard to find tucked in around the Chronicles. I am fascinated by this book… never really looked at it very closely, till now. I have read it in a couple of translations, even a Hebrew-English comparison bible. Visited websites, and read commentaries. I won’t bore you with all the ‘good’ stuff I uncovered, like the dates, the parallel writing with Ezra.

Even as boring as much of that sounds, the Lord has been rubbing my heart with it. The theme of Nehemiah, is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Years prior, the Jewish folks were carried off into captivity, and the city left in rubble. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king of Persia. He began to have a God-given burden for the Jewish nation and the city of Jerusalem left in ruins. He sought God through prayer and desired to go and be used to rebuild the walls. After receiving permission from the king, Nehemiah sets out on his mission.

He gets to Jerusalem and takes in all that rubble. He is very meticulous on his rebuilding plan. There is a HUGE lesson here on leadership style, and successful methods, but that is not where I want to camp out. Please bear with me and NOT stop reading, I am confident the Lord has something for us as we continue.

Chapter 2 gives detail of Nehemiah inspecting the city in shambles. He takes his time, looks over the rubble, and sees the potential. He can not rebuild the city alone. In short, he has each man do his part, “…the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house” (Neh. 3:28) Numerous times, it says “next to him …” they were lined up along the wall, working - rebuilding.

There was a lot of mocking going on, by the neighboring ‘non-Jewish’ communities. There were threats of war. At one point, Nehemiah and Ezra had half the men build, while the other half stood their ground and guarded.

What I like about this story is, Nehemiah was an average Joe, he wasn’t military, or a king. He had a desire placed there by God, and joined forces to see it accomplished.

After the walls were completed, it says in chapter 8, Ezra was asked to read the Law of Moses (verses 5-6) “Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”

Talk about revival! COOL! Then it continues in verse 9, that all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Next is where God spoke the loudest to me. Verse 10, is probably the most known verse of all of Nehemiah, “Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’"

I have read this numerous times and applied the joy to the people, it was the peoples ‘joy’. Read this in commentaries, and heard it preached. What I found a few days ago was written by a Jewish Rabbi, that in the Hebrew it is MUCH different in the description of the ‘joy’, as is translated in the English.

The Hebrew says, Chedvat Adonai hi ma'uzzekhem, meaning ... ‘the Lord's pleasure is your strength’.

HM... I would like to offer that yes, we experience the gladness and joy of God. I would also like to share that, with yet another potential perspective of this verse, bring it along side. Not attempting to redefine doctrine, just an observation. ‘The Lord’s pleasure is your strength’, could it also read …we obtain strength by pleasing God?

The people had become aware once again of the need to have the favor of God on them. Realizing the distance they had gone from God put them in a panic. Nehemiah, along with Ezra told them… “O no, wait --- you have unified. Worked together to complete what God had directed to be done, you heard and understand His word to you, He is pleased with YOU, you rebuilt the stronghold of God around you… He is that STRONGHOLD for you… He is pleased. You have found favor with the Covenantal God, now go and celebrate”. (my paraphrase)

I see the whole picture differently... I have read it 'the emotional feeling of joy I get from God - that will keep me going.' For me, it now is completely different. The people had been in exile for what - mega years, now they have returned, Jerusalem, is in shambles. This is their home. Their heritage. It represents more than that, its condition represents; their relationship with their God. As Nehemiah leads the way to rebuild, they take on new perspectives; they begin to see 'hope'. As the walls are built each man gets his hands on the wall, he is rebuilding 'relationship'. The walls are protection. They stand also as a reminder to other nations... ‘Don’t even try'. God is encircling them once again. God's favor now rests on those who have purposed to --- return, rebuilt ...have relationship. They are strengthened knowing God is pleased with them.

They find strength in this process. WE too find strength in the same process. Our lives can be in ruin, and even carried away to captivity for awhile, and now return. But for many of us, we still live among the shambles. I know I did, for 12 years. It takes some planning, new perspectives, hope... and getting involved with the part that is OURS to rebuild. This is good stuff.

I think too, many of us, may have done plenty of work on the ... let's say ... front wall. The one facing the biggest threat perhaps. Possibly thinking “ok, that is enough, this rebuilding is too tough, takes too much work, this wall will do the job” But the rest of us, is not protected. Sure we look good out front, but we are way too vulnerable around back. God wants ALL of the walls rebuilt.

Years ago my husband worked for a pest control company. He said they would go in and find major problems among the foundation of the house. Sure they got rid of the pests, but if the dry rot was NOT addressed and the foundation and flooring completely rebuilt, the structure would not be sound from the ground up, causing it to be unstable. If that is not bad enough - the pests would indeed return.

When Nehemiah and the others began to rebuild the walls, they couldn’t just go in and begin to re-pile all the stones. No - they had to move away the rubble first. Begin a new. Create a new foundation to build on.

Paul speaks of this in Colossians (3:10) “…put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” This is the part I enjoy. The word for ‘renew’ is anakainoo (anna-kaw-naw-oo). This renewing is not just a patch job here or there. Paul uses an architectural term, it literally means to ‘renovate’. It is the inner remodeling of a man. Taking out some walls, and putting up new ones. The tense in which Paul uses this renovation is current and ongoing (lucky us … smile) The remodeling will never be done, until we stand in the presence of God. Then and only then can we too say ‘it is finished.’

A friend who works in the construction field, told me, the first task of rebuilding a wall is demolition. You have to ‘unbuild’ in the correct sequence. Isn’t that good?

About 4 years ago, I found myself in GREAT need of some ‘unbuilding’ in my life. Tear down some walls, and rebuild. I actually found myself not seeking ‘restoration’, because that conveys the idea of returning to the original state. I didn’t want that. I wanted NEW. So I began to ask the Lord to‘re-create’ me. And that He has. That He is, current and ongoing. I figured if the God of Genesis can create everything out of nothing, than He surely can create something out of me. My job is to supply the ‘nothing’, demolish me, so there is more room for HIM. Yes, I know what you are thinking, “Oh that is so painful”. Yes, yes it is.

As we, like the Israelites return, rebuild and seek relationship with God, we too experience that ‘hedwa’, (Hebrew) that incredible joy, that exhilaration that is ours as we find favor with Him, His pleasure in us. That alone brings strength to the rebuilding process, that painful at times remodeling. Have you experienced the strengthen knowledge that God is pleased with you?

We not only build the walls of our lives, but we too build the body of Christ, may we see more ‘next to him…’ happening in the church. The call to ‘all hands on the wall’. As we unite, seek the same goal, pick up another brick to build, we rub shoulders -- have relationship. God is pleased. We are a strengthened community of believers.

Let’s pray…
Father we are in awe of YOU, the amazing God that You are. We come and present ourselves ready, to return, rebuild and love on You and invite You to love on us. We ask that the rebuilding process be steady. Allow us to see where we NEED demolition, clearing out the old, re-creating, rebuilding. May our walls of our life have the design and strength of YOU. In Your most precious name, Jesus, AMEN!

Have a God-loving ... strong solid walls on all sides - week.

In Him, DeDe (Ps. 92:4 You thrill me, LORD …)

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