Seeing our Own Sin

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.’” Nehemiah 2:17

Nehemiah was a Jew who had landed a great job in the Citadel as the king’s cupbearer. The exile was over, and the remnants of the Jewish people returned home to Jerusalem which had been attacked. News reached Nehemiah that the city lie in waste, the gates had burned to the ground and the wall surrounding the city had been torn down. Nehemiah’s heart broke to hear the condition of his beloved home and people. He eventually approached the king asking for favor and time off to go and rebuild his former home which was granted. I find it so tender that while Nehemiah was living high and prosperous in the home of the king, his heart was broken over those fellow believers who were living among the ruins. He longed for them to experience the city of God the way they had in the past. It didn’t matter how well he was living, his heart belonged to his people, and the town in which they had previously worshipped.

I began thinking about our world today, and I can feel this same sadness for the people of God. I look at myself and see that my prayers for fellow believers must start with my own repentance of things in my heart that are not of God. Only after I see my own sins can I lift prayers for the condition of the hearts of those around me. Seeing my own sin and asking for repentence is like picking up that first building block to do my part in rebuilding the people of God. Like Nehemiah, we witness our fellow believers living among the ruins. We see them salvaging the debris of broken-down walls …selfishness …jealousy...hearts of stone. We recognize that some have entered the burned-out gates of idleness…bitterness…complacency. The people of his time had lost sight of what their lives could have been like and had accepted living on the fringes. I'm wondering if we are any different in 2018.

We have the same thing they had back then that can prompt any wall to be rebuilt…re-hang any gate that has been torn down…we have ‘the hand of God which is good upon us.’ Nehemiah 2:18. We have all we need to rebuild and restore the people of God through the power of God. But will we lay down our own interests and agendas and look to the needs of others? Will we repent of our hearts of stone, and pick up a heart of compassion? Will we look around our communities and our city and do something…anything…to help another rebuild their lives and restore their fellowship with God? God is ready to use a willing heart to move those stones and set those gates back in place. It is our choice whether we will arise and rebuild. But if we don’t we miss out on the joy and blessings that can be ours when we come together for one purpose serving one God.

“The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.” Nehemiah 2:20.