100 Days With Jesus -- Will You Be Part of the Rebuilding or of Defeat?

Day 29


I’m reading this morning in Chapter 3 of Nehemiah which gives a detailed list of all the people that helped to rebuild the wall around their beloved city of Jerusalem. It’s interesting to me that the wall remained damaged and in disrepair for years and nothing was done about it. I suppose it seemed impossible because the small band of people left behind had little resources and were spiritually defeated. That is until someone came along with a vision and that someone was Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a strong leader, planner and visionary but more importantly he helped his people to see the vision that God had shown him and to feel the sense of responsibility that he felt. He gave them hope and helped them to believe in something that just the day before was considered impossible.

I was in a meeting yesterday and as I listened to the words and noticed the body language of those in attendance, I could see this same attitude of defeat. And I wonder, are things really that bad? Have we given everything that we have and have we fought to rebuild our families, our financial situations, our spiritual lives and this country or did we wimp out at the first sign of trouble? I think we’ve wimped out. Our government has used the term ‘too big to fail’ to describe some major industries that have received billions of dollars. Did we buy into the concept that our country was too big or too powerful to fail? Or that we, as individuals were too blessed and too important to fail? The Lord has blessed us for many years, just like He blessed the children of Israel. And now that we are facing a recession, high unemployment and a meltdown of the financial system that’s served us well for so long, I see so many signs of giving up. Our faith has been in ourselves and not in the Lord. The Lord wants our attention and He will have it. So I’m asking myself now, am I going to be like Nehemiah and be the visionary that encourages others to do the things that seemed impossible or will I take on an attitude of defeat? As a child of God, I will not be defeated because I’m in His army and I commit to being a part of His team that will rebuild. When Nehemiah shared his vision, the wall was rebuilt in a miraculous way. I too want to be a part of God’s miraculous rebuilding! God’s army is voluntary. Have you signed up yet?