Week Forty-One, 2023
So, we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. Nehemiah 4:6
The wall around Jerusalem was in a terrible state of disrepair. Jerusalem was the city of God, but without the walls it was vulnerable to everything from thieves to wild animals. When Nehemiah heard about it he wept, but then God called him to do something about it. Rebuilding the wall was a herculean task that would take a long time, but Nehemiah had a plan.
He called on the people to rebuild just the wall behind their house and the wall was rebuilt in a mere fifty-two days. That was a time unheard of, but the task was simple. Build just in your own back yard.
I heard of a young boy who was walking on the beach after a great storm that had washed up hundreds of starfish on the beach. They were dying and drying, but the boy picked them up one at a time and threw them back into the water. A man asked the boy what he was doing and when he heard the answer, the man said “You can’t save all of these.” As the boy threw in another, he said, “No, but I can save this one.”
The moral of the story is that while we can’t do everything, we can do something. Focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t do. If everyone takes care of his own back yard, the whole world can change.
Nehemiah tells firsthand the powerful story of the rebuilding of ancient Jerusalem’s walls after the exile. This rebuilding, in the face of great odds, represented the people’s renewal of faith, their overcoming of national shame and the reforming of their conduct.
One of the powerful messages of Nehemiah is how much you can accomplish when you align yourself with the will and plan of God. Nehemiah and his followers do what seems to be the impossible because they are doing what God has called them to do. You don’t have to rebuild a wall to do the will of God.
What about you today? Are you in the process of rebuilding, restoring, or remaking something in your life?
• Maybe it is a new venture, job, or even a career.
• Maybe you are trying to rebuild a relationship with someone.
• Maybe you need to rebuild your confidence and trust after a devastating loss or failure.
• Maybe your physical body needs some restoration after a stressful time.
• Maybe your future needs to be rebuilt after you have faced and dealt with the pain of your past.
As Nehemiah built, the wall, his lessons can give you a blueprint to rebuild your life and the lives around you, no matter their state of disrepair.
SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
The other day, I saw a tag on a mini-American flag that said that it was made somewhere outside of the United States… and it made me shake my head and laugh out loud.
And I began to notice more and more the tags, whether attached or written, about where a product was made…
Made in America
Made in Taiwan
Made in the Philippines
Made in the Congo
Made in China
Then I read today’s passage in Psalm 139
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.”
– Psalm 139:14 NIV
And I am reminded of where and by whom I am made.
Made in Heaven. By the hands of God.
Suddenly, my aches and pains and nicks and bruises aren’t quite so bad when I am reminded that I am fearfully and wonderfully made…
Reminded that God’s works are wonderful…
Reminded that in the depths of my soul, I knew it full well.
We are an example of God’s handiwork. We are His masterpiece.
God makes no mistakes.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
It’s time for us to be reminded, and start living the fact that we were made in God’s image.
That He created our inmost being.
That He knit us together in our mother’s womb (verse 13).
It’s time for us to be reminded that we are His, a child of the living God. Marty Stubblefield
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We all have storms rise up in our lives, often unexpectedly, and we realize that we can’t handle them on our own. They aren’t necessarily wind and rain. They can be emotional, financial or relational as well. Too often we try to deal with them in our own strength. However, whatever our storm may be, we feel helpless to get out of it. Jesus doesn’t always remove the wind, rain and circumstances, but He does stay with us during them, calming our spirit. Rich Jensen
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear. Oscar Wilde
Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them. Henry Ford
The self-reliant Christian turns to God only when the storms come, preferring self-sufficiency otherwise. “God helps those who help themselves” is their motto, with the emphasis on the last two words. Jim Denison
Courage is to face life as it is. Martin Heidegger
We have invented machines that can take everyday people more than thirty thousand feet into the air and astronauts to the moon and back. And yet, storms we cannot control and often cannot predict can defeat our most sophisticated technology. Jim Denison
Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud. Hermann Hesse
How glorious to realize that Jesus Himself is praying for you. Dan Shock
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker
I try to be magnanimous when entering an argument; after all it’s only fair that I reserve your right to be wrong. Dwight Short
An artist cannot do anything slovenly. Jane Austen
The only way to be found worthy to escape the great tribulation is by receiving Jesus Christ and the forgiveness He offers. Dan Shock
A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. Jean De La Fontaine
The closer you get to nature, the further you are away from idiots.
You must train your intuition—you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide. Ingrid Bergman
It doesn’t matter what a person’s name is as long as he behaves in himself. L. M. Montgomery
People who shine from within don’t need the spotlight.
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. Henry David Thoreau
God has called us to be paramedics rather than policeman. Florida Marketplace Ministries
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