The Wall – News, Request and the Need to Rebuild

Bible Passage:  Nehemiah 1-2

Nehemiah desired and cared deeply for matters that were of great importance – God’s temple (God’s kingdom), God’s people and the faith of his fellow brethren. This is the key message that strikes me the most having read these two chapters.

Nehemiah served as the King Artaxerxes’ cupbearer. This was a highly regarded serving rank in the palace as the position was entrusted to the most trustworthy. Though being blessed with such a comfortable lifestyle and position, Nehemiah has never forgotten about God, His temple and His people.

Having learnt the tragic news regarding the terrible state of Jerusalem and which God’s people were in, Nehemiah was heartbroken. He wept and mourned for many days; fasted and prayed. He prayed for God’s compassion and loving kindness towards His people. He prayed for the sin of all people.

He prayed for God’s mercy.

Nehemiah found favour in the sight of the King. Not only did the King grant his request of taking time off, the King granted Nehemiah’s request for letters which helped to facilitate his journey to Judah and rebuilding mission. The King also sent captains of the army and horsemen with Nehemiah. The King granted all things ‘according to the good hand of God’ (v8).

Having physically surveyed the real damage of the wall, Nehemiah could wait no longer but to start the rebuilding. He encouraged God’s people to rise up and build! His desire and determination were not deterred by the interference and mocking of people who had no part in such a noble heritage.

Very often, I have heard people represented their weariness in certain issues by saying ‘I don’t care’ or ‘I don’t want to know’! It is important that we ask for wisdom from above so that we could exercise godly judgment to discern what are the important issues that we should really care about, and those that we could do without. I know for one, the matters concerning God, His Church and His people are of great importance to all of us.

I think it was an easy way out to choose not to care and a lot of times, I drifted into such ideal when presented with too much worldly cares.

Nehemiah could have chosen not to care. He could have got on with his comfortable lifestyle. However, he did not forget his God; nor his noble responsibility in driving the rebuilding of wall and people’s faith.

In our church today, there may be news of similar nature to Hanani’s (survivors from captivity were in great distress; wall of Jerusalem was broken down; gates were burned with fire). Upon learning the news, we may feel helpless, distressed, disheartened, disappointed and to a point when we consciously do not want to care.

I ask God to give us the courage and strength to sustain our godly desire to continue to care for matters that are of great importance – this may include matters that relate to our faith, our brethren’s wellbeing amongst many others. We could fast and pray for the church’s weaknesses and shortfalls and more importantly, God’s mercy on all of us. The intention is to help build-up one another in our journey.

Let’s pray for the courage and strength to arise and (re-)build!