Pastor’s Moment: I have been reading what I can comfortably call the most educative and captivating essay of my life so far, over the last two days. The author summarizes the Book of Nehemiah in the most refreshing of ways – he simply calls it The Principles or Reconstruction. Let me briefly share with you what the essay has helped me understand. Are you down? Is your world broken down? Are you wondering what to do? Is it all gone? Or have you achieved it all and you are wondering why you worked hard? Or what next? Then you need to grasp the Nehemiah strategy. First - Dont Despair -- Begin to Repair. Remind yourself this great passage, “Christ in you, the hope of glory, (Colossians 1:27). Nehemiah first accepted, “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire. After that he suggested to God a specific action, “Give your servant success today by granting him favour in the presence of this man. Nehemiah was the King’s Cup bearer he knew exactly what to say but asked God to soften the heart of the King. The second thing in reconstruction after deciding to repair is to stop mark-timing and act - Shakespeare wrote, There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. We must learn when to take our opportunities and go after them - Nehemiah displays that character when stands his ground and says, Look, the God of heaven is with us. He will give us success. We, his servants, will start rebuilding. Do what you like. It is not going to stop us. “ The third step is where most people fail in the process of rebuilding their life or their institutions; Listen, do not get paralyzed by the noise and numerous ‘expert’ opinions, just focus on your mission to rebuild. Most people despite their knowledge do nothing and only come alive when you do something. When Nehemiah started building, there were experts like Tobiah the Ammonite, who, said, What they are building -- if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones. – You can imagine how effective that would have been as a tweet or a Facebook update. Basically, you are wrong, you should have done it in a certain way instead. Unless someone is joining you in the business of mixing mud with concrete and playing a part in the construction, they deserve to be ignored, otherwise you will never reconstruct the ruins. Nehemiah at one point tells off his detractors, After he had proved them wrong and continued rebuilding the walls they wanted to meet him for a discussion and he boldly told them, I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you? Finally in the process of rebuilding make time to Rejoice – the fact that rebuilding institutions or personal space involves people, means you need time after achieving your goal to embrace the new walls of your life. If you started rebuilding because you were down and felt it was all over or too much, then you should celebrate the Transformation. Cheers must be turned to cheers. You must stand up and say like Jesus did, It is done. - Mission Accomplished. Nehemiah 12:31 records that, “I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks.” Adding, “The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.” Remember the great verse, “ Rejoice and again I say, Rejoice” Finally, I leave you with the words of Henry David Thoreau who wrote in Walden Pond, If I seem not to keep step with others, it is because I am listening to another drum beat. For you to begin reconstruction, You must listen to another drum beat sometimes, in some cases all the time. God Bless You and Keep You
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:03:44 +0000
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