Nehemiah

/pastor hat on

Nehemiah is a book in the Old Testament it deals with the rebuilding of the walls in Israel. At this time there had been two remnants from Israel that had come back from Exile. They had rebuilt the Temple, at the time it was the only way to really talk to God. You would go in, do your prayers and then leave so that the next person could come in.

So when the book begins we learn that and we also learn that Nehemiah is the cup bearer for the king Xerxes at this time. The cup bearer was a very high position to be in, you would get to taste anything that was to go to the king to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. One of the people that had been in Israel comes back to Iran, which is what it is right now, and explains to Nehemiah what’s going on.

The thing is that even though the Temple was built there were all kinds of rubble around it because the walls had been destroyed. In a way that was an entire metaphor for the Israelites as much as it is for us today. While people might accept Jesus in their heart, they still have all of this rubble about their life, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. You might ask what this is and you only have to look as far back as yesterday, last week, last month or your childhood. Everyone has made choices that have led to us having rubble. In my life I am currently dealing with the rubble that I have thanks in part to the decisions made by my wife and my own inability to see the issue itself.

Nehemiah basically asks the king to be given time off to go and help his countrymen. The king not only gives him the chance but also sends out troops to help with the rebuilding of the walls.

So today’s lesson is that God wants to help us sift through the rubble and try to make us better people. Many times the situations He puts in front of us is to try and deal with the issues. Still we may not know that it’s what He’s doing, it might be put in front of us as a friend with a similar situation, a stranger in need of help or a co-worker who has no one else to turn to. All things in life will garner some kind of life lesion, it’s up to us to pay attention to what’s going on.

How’s that rubble in your life?

/pastor hat off