One hundred forty vertical stone slabs that stretch 494 feet long and stand 10 feet tall at the highest point. Engraved on this coal-black wall are 58,132 names of American soldiers dead or missing. If you’ve been to the Vietnam Memorial, you have witnessed the somber silence that sets on the hearts of all who gaze at the names. This collection of granite has achieved its purpose. It reminds us of the currency that is used to purchase freedom. Thanks to the architects of The Wall, we will always have a place to grieve as we remember a war we wish we could forget. Walls have the ability to remind us of eras in our lives.
For Jerusalem, like every other city of any size, walls were the major form of protection. A cities wall kept invaders at bay and controlled access to the city and the people within. Walls or “boundaries” today have a similar purpose. When a person has a good sense of boundaries they can live safe and secure. Without such boundaries our lives can become muddled and chaotic.
Likewise walls have the ability to divide. Negative examples of this division are all around us from Portland’s history of racial disharmony to the artificial separation between denominations and the like. Positively walls have the ability to call attention to the differences between people such as the difference between believers in Jesus Christ and the rest of the world.
Walls are at the heart of our story. Nehemiah is called by God to rebuild the cities walls. Today I want us to consider what it will take to restore the walls in our lives that will set us apart as God’s people; protect us from the attacks of the world and which will be a constant reminder of God’s presence and power in our lives.
Perceive the Problem:
Our first step is to own up to the fact that our walls are in disarray at best, non-existent at worse. In 1984 The God’s Must be Crazy came out and it painted quite a contrast between Junt-wasi Tribesman of the Kalahari Desert and modern man. It draws a pointed picture when it talks about how the bushmen don’t control their environment but take whatever the god’s give them. By contrast, the narrator drones on about all the modern conveniences in Johannesburg, "real labor saving devices," and we are treated to a fast-paced montage of modern city life, crowded, unhealthy and impersonal. If the numbers 8:00 are seen you have to look busy. When it says, 10:30 you can stop looking busy. And when it reads 10:45 you must look busy again.” Our lives are not that different in many ways. If you don’t believe me here’s a question to ask your neighbors and those who you deal with each day, “when do you find time for yourself?”
Karen Mains in this years book Soul Alert has a describes many of us when she writes, “though we attend church (for too many of us, only when we fell like it), though we grab at daily devotions (maybe five minutes before we race off to work), though we register for Bible conferences and listen to Christian radio in the car and buy stacks of religious literature (but can’t find time to do the things we learn), our souls are languishing. We feel spiritually dry, bereft. The joy of salvation is a distant memory.” (p. 57)
Nehemiah faces a city and a people in the same sort of situation. The temple had been restored years before. There was worship going on and I would imagine the mandatory sacrifices but something wasn’t right. The external walls that demonstrated the power of the people and protected them had to be fixed but so did the spiritual, internal walls that preserved the people for God.
Self-examination questions:
What walls in your life have become so broken down that they no longer protect or preserve you? Maybe it’s the wall of intimacy for your family, or the wall or responsible stewardship. Perhaps you’ve let the desires of others control you so that your wall has crumbled away little-by-little.
Purpose to Pursue God’s Promise
This is the second step in our rebuilding program. God wants to bless His people. By that I mean God wants us to have all we need and to be joyful. I’m not saying we’ll never have a friend die, get sick, have our kids make bad decisions and the like. But God desires us to be whole persons and to do that He demands we become holy persons.
Here is where we get to make the decision, the choice, to seek these promises in our own lives. The idea of “Keeping the Sabbath” comes from Exodus 20 and is the forth commandment. “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (NLT) Nehemiah reminds the people that their failure to observe the Sabbath day was responsible for the walls and the temple being destroyed. By the time Jesus walks on earth the Sabbath as a principle had all sorts of things grafted onto it in order that no one might accidentally break the Sabbath.
Sabbath day practices carry with it thousands of years of interpretations, thoughts, rules, and legislation that have muddied the water. Should Saturday or Sunday be the Sabbath? What can we do and not do on a Sabbath? Is it okay to work if your job won’t let you off and you’re convinced God gave you the job? You get the idea…
Jesus told us that the Sabbath was created for man not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is part of God’s promise to us. We weren’t put on earth to kowtow to some list of divine rules just for the sake of the rules. I like the idea of “resouling”.
To “resoul” is to take seriously the spiritual need we have to grow stronger and become refreshed. It’s the promise of God to meet us when we make the time to care for our souls. It’s a promise that preserved the Jewish people for generations yet it’s a promise that too often is either cursed with overly legalistic wrangling or ignored as irrelevant.
Self-examination questions:
What is that refreshes you spiritually? Perhaps it’s a long walk in Forest Park or reading a book for the pure enjoyment of reading. Maybe it’s putting on a worship CD or Christian tape and singing to the Lord. Digging into your Bible or gathering with others to share about how Jesus has touched you? Maybe, just maybe, we’ve been so long without such a touch we don’t even remember what moves us.
One of my practices that have become part of my resouling is a Sunday afternoon nap. Last weekend at the coast I found a time to resoul as I listened to the surf and simply rested and read.
Put Protections in Place
Knowing we need to resoul is good. Making a decision to go after those things that allow us to be refreshed is healthy. But the problem comes when we actually go to do it.
Nehemiah took it upon himself to order the gates shut and threatened those who hung around in order to protect Jerusalem from becoming caught up in sin. He set guards. He established protection over the Sabbath in order to help the city honor God.
The key step in making this happen is also the hardest part. It means to purposely set aside time for your spiritual resouling or refreshment. If it was easy we’d all be doing it, right? I already know some of the lines because they are my own. “If I set this evening apart for God then I’ll miss….” Or “my life is too hectic to set time aside. I’ve got this meeting on Monday, this game on Tuesday, this outing…” or “I work all day and the family doesn’t do anything around the house so I have to do the yard work, clean the cars, mop the floors, do the ironing, mow the driveway, and paint the lawn…” As I said, it’s hard. But we make hard choices everyday.
Yes you’re going to have to give up something you like to do in order to do something that will enable you to live for Jesus. I know that’s asking a lot from us especially when we consider that all Jesus gave up for us was his throne in heaven. Here’s a ten week plan for growing our spirits.
Ø 2 Weeks—set aside 1 hour of time each week on the same day for resouling
Ø 2 Weeks—set aside 2 hours of time each week on the same day. Maybe it will be 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes during lunch and an hour in the evening.
Ø 2 weeks expand it to 4 hours. It’s best to do it one day say a Saturday afternoon.
Ø 4 Weeks expand it to 8 hours. Now you’re cooking with gas. It’s now that you’ve decided to make it you’re life’s work to be God’s person
If we do this it will be inconvenient but important things rarely are convenient. Let me share just how difficult this can be. If our family decided to adopt Saturdays it would mean that the lawn care, vacuuming, dusting and the rest would fall in the evenings rather than wait till Saturday. It would mean sermons would have to be done by Friday, and that the activities we undertook on Saturday were those which brought healing and health to our souls.
Self-examination questions:
Jesus told his disciples to count the cost before deciding to follow Him. Maybe the cost of being Jesus’ person just got too high for you. But consider what protections would you have to put into place if you were going to keep God’s command? What would it cost you? How would it complicate or simplify your life? When can you start with the first hour being set aside for Jesus?
This table is a reminder and evidence of God’s love for us. It’s proof that God chose to do the most important and hardest thing rather than just take the easy way out. He sent Jesus to die in our place. He chose from the beginning of time that this death would make things right between us and Him. And He promised that those who responded to Jesus with love would not be turned away. Let us prepare to come to our Lord’s Table.
