Rebuilding the Ruins
Nehemiah Chapter 4 is a beautiful story of God rebuilding ruins. All the people of God had been gathered and they began to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem that had been laying in ruins – but they face some strong opposition to the rebuilding. This was not just a little wall that they were building, it wasn’t a picket fence around the city. The wall was going to be 12m high, 2.5m wide and have 34 watchtowers.
Yet the wall began as ruins that had been laying in disrepair and desolation for 140 years. I love that God was going to be faithful to rebuild the ruined walls of Jerusalem and God is faithful to rebuild the ruins in our lives!
We live in a broken world that is not perfect and as a result we can have ruins in our life – places in our personal world that are in need of rebuilding and restoration. I wonder what the ruins look like for you? Maybe it’s a relationship that’s breaking down, the loss of a loved one, a promise that is yet to be fulfilled or a persistent health issue.
I suffered a lot of rejection and anxiety during my teenage years that left me feeling like broken-down walls of Jerusalem by the time I hit my 20’s. I felt like my life was in a state of collapse and desolation.
Yet, God had a plan to rebuild the ruins in my life and He has a plan to rebuild the ruins in your life so let’s have a look at how Nehemiah through Gods faithfulness rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem – and how we can partner with God to rebuild the ruins in our own lives.
Nehemiah 4:17-18 “…Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me”
If we are going to allow God to rebuild the ruins in our lives then we need to:
STAY CONNECTED
{Allow your desperation to drive you into the arms of Jesus }
It can be so easy to allow our brokenness to break our intimacy with Jesus. When we wonder where He is and why He isn’t “fixing things” YET – it is vital that we stay connected to Jesus if we want to rebuild the ruins. Just keep coming to Him, as we pour out our brokenness He is faithful to put the broken pieces of our lives back together.
Nehemiah could have allowed the broken state of the walls and the force of the opposition he was facing to keep Him from trusting God, but it did just the opposite, it propelled Him into the arms of God where he got direction and wisdom for the rebuilding process.
KEEP OUR WEAPON CLOSE
“…Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me” Nehemiah 4:17-18
It says that the builders kept a sword by their side, so they were ready to fight the opposition whenever they needed to. Ephesians 6:17 says “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. This talked of a small sword, that would be kept at our side for close hand-to-hand combat. We need to keep the Word of God and His promises close because it is our weapon against an enemy that doesn’t try and fight us from a distance, he likes to get in close.
The walls around Jerusalem had been in ruins for 140 years but when Nehemiah and the people of God chose to stand on God’s faithfulness and partner with Him in the rebuilding – the walls were rebuilt in 52 days!!!
It takes great faith to be able to continually chose to stay connected and keep our weapon close despite opposition and brokenness, disappointment and pain. But as we do this, as we step out in faith – God shows Himself faithful to rebuild the ruins. We can stand strong against the opposition that seeks to keep our lives in ruins.
Will you allow God to begin rebuilding the ruins in your life? He desires for you to have life and life to the full – He wants you to live whole and healed.
{ Stay Connected + Keep your Weapon Close }
{ See the ruins rebuilt in your life }
Elise Heerde is a wife, mother, teacher and writer from Melbourne who loves Jesus and passionately shares about the grace, hope and love that He offers to all. She deeply desires to see the broken made whole, the captives set free and the lost brought home. You can find her instagram account here @her.anchor
