Rebuilding our walls

"O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the Prayer of thy servants who delight to fear thy name; and give success to thy servant today," (Nehemiah 1:11a RSV) A wall symbolize? One of the most famous landmarks in the world today is the Berlin wall, dividing the city in two. Ordinarily, though, a wall symbolizes strength and protection. What does it mean, then, to rebuild the walls of your life? Nehemiah is the account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is a symbol of the city of God, God's dwelling place and the center of life for the world. In an individual life, then, the rebuilding of the walls would be a picture of re-establishing the strength of that life. We have all met people whose defenses have crumbled away. They have become human derelicts, drifting up and down the streets of our large cities, utterly hopeless and helpless. But God in grace frequently reaches down and gets some of those people and brings them out to rebuild the walls. This is the picture of the way the walls of any life, of any local church, of any community, of any nation, can be rebuilt into strength and power and purpose again. You will never build the walls of your life until you have first become greatly concerned about the ruins. Have you ever taken a good look at the rubble in your life? Have you ever stopped long enough to assess what you could be under God, and compared that with what you are? Have you looked at the possibilities that God gave you in your life, and seen how far you have deviated from that potential? Like Nehemiah, you have received a word, in some form or other, of the desolation and ruin there. When Nehemiah hears this report about Jerusalem, he weeps and prays for days, showing his intense concern. You will never rebuild the walls of your life until you first weep over the ruins.