Proverbs 25

Bible Passage:  Proverbs 25

Our Responsibility to Build a Wall

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28 ESV)

Without walls there would be no limits. We’d be vulnerable, having no control over what enters in and out.  Stories of fortresses, castles, cities and battles tell of how walls kept danger and the enemy out but when these barriers were breached, disaster and chaos broke out for the citizens. Nehemiah realised the need to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and this history has been preserved as an instruction, a call to us today to build a spiritual wall.

During Nehemiah’s time, the Israelites were just so busy. Occupied, tired, and wearied by their own daily activities, they found no time to rebuild the wall so their enemies could just pass by whenever. We might found ourselves in the same situation from the moment we wake to go to work or school until the unearthly hours we end up sleeping, maybe not even having time to sleep at all. Without a wall, we’re just following the world—what is the means in that?

We need a wall to keep God’s enemies out of our lives and homes. We need a wall to set boundaries against the world. Satan hates walls. He wants us to join him in his march to death. He doesn’t want us protected behind walls. So he does whatever he can to stop people building walls, and these days he’s more cunning than ever knowing that we’ll run to God if he just scares us. Slowly, deceptively, he works among us so that we find ourselves succumbing to temptations, procrastinating, doubting that we’ll ever build something out of our lives. With the wall left unbuilt, we may continue surfing the net aimlessly, playing hours and hours of games, follow our friends to ungodly places, skip Sabbath every now and then, and more ungodly activities.

How do we build this wall? Realise that God is our help and strength. Without God, we’re not going to be able to build up these walls. We’re going to need the word of God and daily prayers to keep this wall up. We have to realise that our efforts are part of a greater purpose of building a spiritual wall to protect and preserve ourselves in this journey of faith.

What did you read into in today’s proverbs?