By He Reads Truth
As the children’s ministry space maxed out, as pastors crammed into a tiny office, and as our two Sunday morning worship gatherings teetered toward the necessity of a third service, the elders of the church and I started searching for a new building.
As we set out for a new location, we ran into dead ends at every turn. Some places were too expensive, others too small, and still others were gobbled up by investors before we got a chance to look at them. We often wanted to say alongside the Israelites in today’s passage, “Listen, our God, for we are despised!” (Nehemiah 4:4).
As we’ve read so far, the Israelites were tasked with rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and things hadn’t gone as easily as they would have liked. Most recently in the story, we saw their enemies trying to Trojan-horse their efforts, so to speak, and sneak in unnoticed. But God proved His faithfulness in thwarting their attempts, and the rejuvenated Israelites got back to building.
Nehemiah’s story is not a story about a man and his forces building a wall, though that’s the historical aspect of it. The message from the book of Nehemiah is also not about church building projects like the one my congregation was undertaking. No, it’s primarily about trusting in God’s faithfulness when opposition seems overwhelming.
We know in our daily lives that Satan is constantly in opposition to our obedience to God. Our flesh wars against us, pressing us to seek quick fixes rather than cultivating lasting joy. More than that, we let these things cause us to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness. To put our passage today another way, we wonder, “God, can’t you see? Can’t you hear? We are being attacked on every side!”
But God is not in the business of quick fixes. He is making all things new (Revelation 21–22), and He is patient with sinners (Romans 2:4; 2Peter 3:9), calling us to enter into His deliberate but still unfolding plan (Matthew 28:18–20; 2Corinthians 5:11–21). May we not grumble against Him, but remember the faithfulness of our “great and awe-inspiring Lord” (Nehemiah 4:14). May we remember and give thanks for Christ Jesus, who went to the cross to absorb God’s wrath for us—for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2)—and to give us peace until He returns.
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