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Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Do you have some routines which shape your life and safeguard you from potential disaster? For instance, do you have annual medical and dental checkups with medical professionals to assure you that your body is healthy? Maybe you have an annual financial review of your financial situation to be sure you are managing well whatever amount of resources God has entrusted to you?
But do you engage in a thorough spiritual self-evaluation from time to time? Why? To be sure you are spiritually healthy and maturing sufficiently so you can handle the challenges of life God knows are coming your way!
Join me again in Jerusalem in late October 445bc. Our friend Nehemiah and the residents of Jerusalem are enjoying the remarkable accomplishment of the Jerusalem city wall rebuilt in 52 days! (Nehemiah 6:15) I imagine many of them walked around the city just admiring their hard work and they probably slept much better at night confident Jerusalem was much safer with the huge protective wall!
Nehemiah 7:3 tells us Nehemiah also put some people systems in place to safeguard the city: “I instructed them: ‘the gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. [at dusk] Also, appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own homes.” Obviously, security, for the residents of Jerusalem, was a high priority now that Nehemiah knew they were surrounded by people in all directions who did NOT want Jerusalem rebuilt or secure! Not that much different from today, is it my friends?
As I reflect on those security systems for Jerusalem, it challenges me to consider my life, my home, my family, my neighborhood, my social groups. What about you? How safe are we, really, and what would God want me to do to improve security from those enemies that might do great harm, especially enemies of the SOUL!
Enemies like anger, shame, fear, worry, bitterness, resentment, retaliation, jealousy, lust. Do you recognize those as schemes and weapons of the dark kingdom? Do you remember Peter’s warning: “Be alert and sober minded. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith because you know believers in Jesus around the world are going through the same sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8,9)
So how effective are you and I in building security systems for our SOUL and the souls of our family and friends? Where is our SOUL vulnerable to the dark kingdom’s schemes and what are the works of God the Father; God the Son; and God the Holy Spirit in our spiritual transformation that give us great security of Soul when considering the dark kingdom’s hatred of God? Ponder that for a moment!
Nehemiah next did something very interesting as the Jerusalem residents, now feeling safer because of the high city wall and Nehemiah’s security systems, began looking forward considering their future: “Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and all the houses had not yet been rebuilt. So, my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical records of those who had been the first to return. [from exile in Babylon] This is what I found written there…” (Nehemiah 7:4,5) I’m so glad to see this, do you know why?
It tells me Nehemiah led the people in building the city wall encompassing an area MUCH LARGER than was needed by the small city population at that time! Nehemiah was a visionary, a forward thinker. Nehemiah knew that as word spread that Jerusalem was finally secure, after more than 140 years with the walls broken down, many Jewish families would come to make their home in the rebuilt Jerusalem with the high, protective wall!
With population growth many more businesses would be needed so Nehemiah very strategically extended the circumference of Jerusalem in anticipation of significant future growth! Now that’s very wise leadership, do you agree? And it calls me to ask how well I am preparing for my future and the future of my family, what about you?
Did you notice Nehemiah said it was GOD who put into his heart to rally the city leaders to make long term plans? Have you learned this is a fundamental character trait of God? God is working in the PRESENT based on all HE knows of the PAST. The present is NEVER disconnected from the past… not in the life of a person or a family or a business or school or even a city or nation!
But in the PRESENT God is working IN ANTICIPATION of what God can see in the future, both the near- and long-term future! Now that’s really important friends, for while we have hopes and dreams and we make plans to hopefully realize our desired future, God sees the REALITY of the Future and is always working in the NOW to prepare for the future. Please be sure you celebrate that powerful truth and embrace how God is preparing you for what HE knows is your future!
By the way, the historical record which Nehemiah found and recorded for us in Nehemiah 7:6-73 is word for word what Ezra recorded for us in Ezra chapter 2, and it’s a record of those who participated in the FIRST exile pilgrimage taken by about 50,000 Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem in 538bc. That’s almost 100 years before Nehemiah’s wall project!
Let’s pause right here today my friends and do as Nehemiah did. What is the historical record of your family going as far back as you are able? What have you inherited as vulnerabilities and security systems for the SOUL? What action plans have you developed for active protection of your SOUL (your mind, your emotions, your will and your personality) and that of your family?
And what plans are you putting in place NOW which will assure the integrity, the moral purity, the courageous vitality of your SOUL and that of your descendants as you look out into the future 20 or 50 years? Is there some awareness of vulnerability or action of greater SOUL security God is leading you to take because of what God sees in the future of your family?
This worship song may help us ponder these really important questions, and I’ll meet you back here tomorrow, my friends!
Today’s Scripture: Nehemiah 7:3-73.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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