Author: TimMaynard

The third chapter of the book or journal of Nehemiah is one of those “let’s skip that” chapters when we’re trying to read through the Bible. Most of us have done that. We glance through quickly but don’t try even in our minds to pronounce the multi-syllabic Hebrew names. Unfortunately when we do that we sometimes miss a treasure hidden in the midst of the verses.

In this instance, there’s a goldmine. This chapter filled with obscure and really hard to pronounce names, gives us a beautiful picture of what the Body of Christ should be. Literally, it’s a pristine, Old Testament picture of the church! The rebuilding begins at “the Sheep Gate.” (3:1) Don’t walk too quickly past that. The Sheep Gate, some believe, would hundreds of years later be the point of entry for Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday! The rebuilding of the wall literally begins with Jesus. That piece of the building process was led by the household of Eliashib who we are told, was the high priest at that time. The symbolism is too rich to be missed. Jesus, our Great High Priest, is the starting point for the rebuilding of broken walls and broken lives.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the week of His passion, He walked a path that every sheep, every lamb that would be offered as a sacrifice, had come through before. But Jesus was the end of that sacrificial system which pointed in shadow and symbol to Him! The blood of bulls and goats and sheep, while commanded by God, would be superseded by the sacrifice of our Great High Priest who would offer Himself as the ultimate blood-offering to cleanse our sin. The blood of a sacrificial animal would never be enough to satisfy the need for a truly perfect, willing and guiltless offering who was like us. And Jesus perfectly fulfilled those requirements. No one before Him or since could have done so. Only the God-man, Jesus, the firstborn, the only begotten of the Father, could meet that standard.

And on that one day at Calvary, He did. Your life broken, wrecked by sin? Turn to the One who entered by the Sheep Gate and stood in your place on the cross. Your world broken by guilt and shame? Only His perfect atoning work can wash it away. Your memories distorted by past sins? Only the blood of Jesus can rebuild your brokenness and give you a new beginning.

In Christ alone can the walls be rebuilt. In Christ alone can sin be forgiven. In Christ alone can a new beginning be yours.

FOR MEDITATION: So He said to them again, “Truly, truly I am the gate for the sheep (Sheep Gate).” John 10:7

FOR REFLECTION: The entry through the Sheep Gate was a one-way journey. The animals that entered there never went out again. The next stop was the sacrificial altar. But Jesus said, “I am the gate for the sheep; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) Jesus not only went in through the Sheep Gate to be sacrificed for our sins… but He did something no sacrifice had done before… HE WENT OUT! And those who enter with him, while laying down our lives for Him… will “come in and out… and find pasture.” This is an incredible picture of resurrection life

Leadership can be good or bad. Often it is both at once. If the last part of Nehemiah Chapter 2, teaches us anything, it’s that the enemy of our souls is not going to let us linger in victory for long. He will seek to remove our joy, our peace, our celebration from us as quickly as he can. Nehemiah had surveyed the devastation of Jerusalem, had planned for almost half a year, secured permission for a building permit from the king, met with the leadership of Jerusalem and the key people of the city and convinced them of the need and of their ability to do what was needed to rebuild the crumbled walls.

And then, almost immediately, upon the heels of his rallying speech and the affirmation, “let us rise up and build” and before they could together “set their hand to this good work,” three characters appeared to oppose the effort. Sanballat, Tobia and Gershem came and began to mock the efforts of rebuilding the wall. Anytime something good that God is doing begins to get traction; anytime you take a step of faith; anytime you attempt something great for God because your God is great, Sanballat, Tobia and Gershem show up.

They show up, first, to make you think you’re a fool for trying something that is so far over your head. They mock you, they gossip about you, they seek to discourage you and steal your joy by making you doubt yourself.

Then, if that doesn’t succeed, they threaten you. “Will you rebel against the king?” This was the very thing Nehemiah had been concerned about in coming to the king! He was a loyal subject and by no means wanted the king to think he was rebellious against his kingdom. And yet, this is exactly what the Accuser of our souls (Satan) does to us: he finds the place where we are most afraid and targets that with innuendo, with discouragement and just with fear.

But this time his arrow did not pierce Nehemiah’s heart. His defense? “The God of heaven will prosper us.” He knew this was God’s project and not his. He knew that God was truly the leader and not Nehemiah. He knew that this “good work” was a work God had called him to and nothing was going to stop it. His God was bigger than their discouraging words. Therefore, he said, “we His servants will arise and build…”

And so they did. And so must we!

FOR MEDITATION: So I answered and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build…” Nehemiah 2:20

FOR REFLECTION: Have you met Sanballat, Tobia and Gershem? If not, you will if you are seeking to walk seriously and obediently with God. They will come to you under different names and with different accusations, but the same spirit will drive the situation. They come to discourage… to tell you it can’t be done; to give you all the reasons why you should just give up before you ever start. Simply do to your Sanballat and Tobia and Gershem what Nehemiah did: remind them of who your God is.

We need wall-builders: someone who can come alongside us and rebuild the walls of our world, of our country, of our culture so that “we may no longer be a reproach.” (Nehemiah 2:17) After seeing the devastation with his own eyes (Nehemiah 2:12-16) Nehemiah realized the enormity of the task. But the first brick in the wall, so to speak, was rallying the people around a common purpose. “Come, let us build the wall….” (Nehemiah 2:17) It was an “us” job, not a “we” job. Sometimes we point to a problem and we think or say, “somebody should take care of that.” Or it may be more pointed: “You should take care of that.” But Nehemiah wisely used the right word: “US.” It is an US problem and requires an US solution to be successful.

Too many “US” jobs become a one-person task. God puts us in a body for the purpose of allowing the full strength of all of US to get to the task of reaching the world. “We are all part of the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) This flies in the face of a culture that prefers to sub-contract important tasks out to the “professionals.” But when we return to the organic purpose of why we are the church, we realize that US is the central work force.

Many years ago a writer described the church like an NFL football game. He said there were eleven players on the field badly in need of rest being watch by 50,000 people in the stands badly in need of exercise! That’s so like the church. The numbers, sadly, do not change much: 20% of the people carry 80% of the load. Churches that get off dead center are those who learn how to active the resources of the 80%!

As we move forward to “rebuild the wall” that has fallen in our culture, it takes more than a few. 20% can’t make this happen.

It will take US.

FOR MEDITATION: Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”   Nehemiah 2:17

FOR REFLECTION: When you see a problem is your first thought to say, “Lord what should I do to help resolve this?” or is it “Somebody should fix this?” Most problems we encounter will require an “us” (meaning “YOU”) solution in conjunction with others. Ask God to help you find your place in His plan.

It’s always a thrilling moment for the leader when boots hit the ground and the dream, the vision, the plan begin to come together.

Nehemiah spent three days (2:11) surveying day and night the reality of the task. Four months of planning at a distance now had to be adjusted to an eyes-on survey. He took no one. The leader’s role is seldom a group process. He looked at the rubble. He listened to God.

And when he spoke to the Jews who were there, he spoke words of motivation steeped in the reality of what he had seen with his own eyes.

It would have been amazing to be in the room that night when gloom and despair turned to joy and enthusiasm: “Let us arise and build!” Why are we sitting here with an unfinished task? Our enemies mock us. Our walls are broken down. Let us do this together! We can do it with God’s help!

And together they arose… and built! What task in your life is needing completion? What “wall” needs to be rebuilt? Isn’t it time to arise…

…and build?

FOR MEDITATION: “Let us arise and build!”     Nehemiah 2:18

FOR REFLECTION: Read Nehemiah 2:11-20. What are the walls in your life that have been knocked down? What are you prepared to do as you “rise up and build?”

The first steps out of the relative security of the city of Susa must have been hard ones to take. Nehemiah, now carrying official documents and passports provided through the personal signature of the King, moved on toward his destination: Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:11, tells us through Nehemiah’s personal journal that he was there “three days.” This in all likelihood was his first personal visit to the city and his first moment of true exploration of the reality and enormity of the task.

It could not be done alone. As he walked and camped around the city, probably drawing diagrams and projecting material needs, he perhaps wondered how a labor force could be gathered to accomplish the work. But where God guides, God provides. But it was in that three day period that he first encountered a reality that would follow him throughout the project: opposition.

Nehemiah encountered two men named Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. We are told in the Bible that “they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.” (Nehemiah 2:10) The first encounter of opposition for Nehemiah was with two officials who were threatened by Nehemiah’s desire to rebuild the city.

We can expect that whenever a God-driven, Spirit-led plan is put into place, the Enemy will seek to frustrate that plan. It threatens his hold on people when the Kingdom comes. He operates best in the dominion of broken walls and broken lives. His power is greatest when people are “in distress and turmoil.” (Nehemiah 1:3) But his grip is lost when redemption appears; when hope returns; when God’s promises become reality in people’s lives.

But we can expect to incur Satan’s wrath whenever we move by faith into territory with an intention to redeem and restore that which the enemy has captured. Don’t be surprised lonely missionary family, when opposition surrounds you. Your presence brings the Kingdom to bear in occupied territory. Don’t be discouraged church planter, when you feel like the only Christians in the urban center where God has placed you. The Kingdom is coming through you! Don’t be distressed pastor, when the church pews are not filled to overflowing on Sundays. The kingdom is coming in power through your testimony of quiet persistence. And the enemy will stay busy to frustrate you.

Nehemiah did not enter the city alone. He was surrounded by “captains and kings of the army” sent by King Artaxerxes himself. And when you move to your assignment; when you fly the banner of the King in the face of the broken walls and broken lives around you, know that you are not alone. The captain of the Lord’s army and His horsemen accompany you as well! Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you….”

…even when opposition comes.

FOR MEDITATION: So it pleased the king to send me… and I set him a time.   Nehemiah 2:6

FOR REFLECTION: How can opposition in our lives be interpreted as the enemy trying to stop our forward movement? Usually this is true: if we are walking in the path and plan God has set for us, opposition is evidence that we are on the right path! On the other hand, to move in what we believe to be God’s direction and not encounter opposition may be a sign that we have set off on our own path! While these statements cannot be absolute, the tendency will be for this to be true. Don’t resent opposition… it may just be evidence that your walk is right where God wants you to be!

It’s hard to move forward when we are looking backward. Psychologists tell us that one of the main causes of stress in our lives is when we try to undo or redo something from our past. For the most part, we don’t get a do-over. WE must move forward. There are two pieces of glass in our cars that are directly in front of us. One is a large piece called a windshield. The other is a small piece called a rear view mirror. There is a message in the size of those glass pieces. There is a clear reason why the windshield is larger: moving forward is more important than looking backward. Now this is not to say we can’t or shouldn’t learn from the past. We certainly should. BUT WE CAN’T LIVE THERE! We will be an accident waiting to happen if we are flying down the highway glaring into what is behind us. (Ladies putting on their makeup as they travel late to work notwithstanding!)

It was time for Nehemiah to move forward. The past was the past. The damage had been done. The walls of Jerusalem had been decimated by the force of the Babylonian army. Their king now sat before Nehemiah, waiting to hear the request to be made. Nehemiah did not demand restitution for what had been done to his beloved, home city. He did not want the soldiers who did this marched out and punished. He pushed forward. He moved ahead. He didn’t look back.

So many of us get stuck in reverse. We nurse long-held grudges against the person who “tore down our walls.” We long for revenge, smacking our lips over the feast of vengeance served hot, not realizing the feast we are anticipating is really our own flesh and blood. As I watch the protesters and demonstrators crying for vengeance in a vain effort to feel justice done, I wonder how productive we could really be if we just refused to look back and look forward instead?

How many opportunities has God graciously laid before us that we have squandered by refusing to look forward? If our eyes are fixed on a past that we cannot change, we will never seize the opportunities to bring needed change and a new beginning. Maybe the walls in your life are broken right now. Someone… some person, some entity… has “broken down your walls” and now, like the people of Israel, you are “in great distress and turmoil.” In other words, your problems are somebody else’s fault! You can focus your energy and attention on getting even… or you can focus your eyes before you… “turn your eyes upon Jesus….”

…And begin to get better.

FOR MEDITATION: And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and IF your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father’s tombs, that I may rebuild it.” Nehemiah 2:7

FOR REFLECTION: Where have the walls been broken down in your world? What needs to be repaired? The reality of your circumstance is that dwelling on past injuries and bitterness will not get the walls repaired. Focus forward. Look into the future God wants you to enjoy. And then, by faith, go there.

Our nation has changed over the past seven days… again. Our nation has moved toward a deeper divide racially than we have seen since the volatile ’60s. And while none of us want to admit that terrorism is winning the war against America, fear is. As a result of the events this past week in Dallas, our nation has moved further from unity than ever. We are suspicious of one another… and fearful.

Politicians CANNOT fix this. Their job is to protect the citizens of our nation but WE must be the solution to this awful circumstance. WE must change how we think, how we decide and how we act. The answer is not to buy better guns or even to create harsher laws to prevent the purchase of guns.

The answer is to change the hearts and minds of the people who make up this nation. Stopping hatred and prejudice and the need for vengeance and retaliation is a spiritual battle; not a political one. It requires an intervention from the God we have asked to leave us alone. And unfortunately, we are seeing signs that He has honored our request.

But as I have advocated in the past few weeks from the pulpit and from these blog posts, it is GOD’S PEOPLE who must return to Him first. It is our responsibility as the churches of our land, as the Christian conscience of our nation, to begin to live what we believe and to model what we would like to see others do.

So how do we as Christians respond to the events of the last few days and of the divisions that have deepened between us?

1. We can pray. We must pray for our nation. If we spent twice as much time praying about our problems as a nation as we spend lamenting about them perhaps God would be moved to intervene in power and glory.
2. We model racial harmony and reconciliation. We need to stop being fearful of others who are different than we are in color, nationality and clothing. We should watch our language around our lost neighbors as we talk about “the white man” or “the black man.” We are just… men. Build relationships cross-culturally. Celebrate those who are different than you are. WE are all just people… same dreams, same hopes, same fears. We share a common heritage… the human race. We are ALL created in the image of God… His stamp abides on all of us. And when we take a life or advocate the taking of any human life, we have taken something that God values deeply.
3. We stop making decisions that are fear-driven. We have allowed fear to make us do things that were unthinkable to us five years ago. Reach out to people you don’t know. Fight your fears. Bo Jackson, the athlete, tweeted the night of the Dallas shootings, “Do something kind for a complete stranger tonight before you go to bed. Our world needs that right now.” And so it does.
4. We can refuse to allow bitterness, anger and rage to control us. Nowhere is it justified for us to seek to “even the score” for injuries and wrongs done to us, whether to people we know or people we don’t. We must recognize bitterness on a personal level or a corporate one will always lead us to war… not peace, to injustice… not justice. “The wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20)

Days like these test and reveal who we really are as a nation… and as individuals. They will serve as a catalyst to make us bitter… or as a cause to make us better. Our hope must be that we can now say, “enough.” That we can learn to respect people who are of different races, nationalities and stop allowing fear and misunderstanding to drive us. We can respect those who serve us by wearing uniforms as first-responders and police officers and pray for them that there will never be a reason for them again to attend the funeral of a fallen comrade.

Enough. God, it is enough. May America be great again, not because of our economy or our military prowess. May we be great again because we are”One nation, under GOD… INDIVISIBLE… with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL!”

And may God have reason to bless America once again.

After our brief time walking through 2 Chronicles 7:14, we now return to our reflections on Nehemiah. This Old Testament book, though maybe not familiar to us as some, has powerful and relevant applications for us especially as it speaks to those who are leaders.

To review briefly, Nehemiah had been called by God to do a difficult if not impossible task; to rebuild the decimated walls of the city of Jerusalem. The first wave of Jewish exiles had returned and began a process of resettling in the city. But without the protection of a wall around the city the people could not thrive.

And so God raised up a leader. A layman, working in the personal service of the most powerful king on earth, was chosen by God as His instrument to lead the reconstruction of the walls.

Never believe for a moment that God cannot or will not step into the midst of your world and completely redirect your life for His purposes. Maybe those purposes will be very task-specific as was Nehemiah’s. Or maybe He will call you to service in another nation or to adopt a child.

Nehemiah was willing to go. But several obstacles stood before him, most formidable the king for whom he worked.

A tough conversation was on the horizon. Wisely Nehemiah prayed before he spoke. He also was willing to wait. And wait. For four months Nehemiah prayed.

Proverbs 21:1 tells us, “The heart of the king is like a stream of water in the hands of Lord. He turns it wherever He will.” If God can move a king’s thoughts and incline them toward His purposes, the heart of any person can be moved; a difficult and capricious boss, an unreachable spouse, a wayward child. Without violating their personhood and ability to choose God can sovereignty act to achieve His will.

And so a divine preparation which had been under way for four months came to a moment of opportunity for Nehemiah. He had prayed. Now his faith required action. He stepped out and laid his request before the king. Humbly but with specific detail he made his request known. The king heard and gave what Nehemiah had asked!

Amazing things happen when we pray believing. But we need to be ready to move when the moment arrives…

… and not look back.

FOR MEDITATION: And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. Nehemiah 2:8c

FOR REFLECTION: Do your dreams and ideas have an action plan? A dream remains only a dream until it is expressed in concrete acts. What is the next step you must take to make the dream a reality?