Ezekiel 42:20 NIV
So he measured the area on all four
sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred
cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
Can God
Trust You At The Wall?
Years
ago, when we were newlyweds, Mary Jo and I each were running to get into better
shape. We
When
you or I come up against a wall, we have to decide what to do about it. Perhaps the answer is easy; we have no
interest in what is behind the wall. It
might be though that the wall seems insurmountable and although we would like
to get beyond it, we give up because we are afraid to try to scale it. We aren’t after all Spiderman; we don’t have
super powers. There are walls that seem
to be morally wrong to climb. It is
against the law. To climb the wall would
require we do something that violates our values. Maybe you aren’t sure that it is worth the
effort trying to get past the wall.
Perhaps there is a wall before you right now and you haven’t decided
what to do about it. Will you pretend
that you just don’t see it, will you ignore it or will you gather up all your
power and try to scale it? Will you turn away from it? Will you consult with others who have faced
similar walls and find out what they did?
Are you the only one in this world who knows about the wall you have
before you?
Consider
the possibility that there might be a wall you face and God is watching
carefully to see what you will do about it.
He might in fact have placed that wall before you to test you, to try
your resolve, reveal your character.
When the nation of Israel began its journey into the new land God had
picked out for her to settle and make her home, a wall stood before the people. For forty years the Israelites had wandered
about in the desert just outside Palestine as punishment for refusing to
believe God would enable them to conquer the people living in the land God
wanted them to settle. Fear kept that
entire generation of Israelites out of the land that they comfortably could
have inhabited. Now, forty years later,
the people had a far more difficult challenge before them if they were to live
in the Promised Land. They had to attack
a walled city and bring it down. It was
a city fortress. Now Jericho was tightly shut up
because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. (Joshua
6:1 NIV) God did have a plan for how they were to attack the city. It certainly was not a commonly practiced
military strategy though. March around the city once with all the armed
men. Do this for six days. Have seven
priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day,
march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the
trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will
collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." (Joshua 6:3-5 NIV)
Imagine
standing before the city of Jericho and staring up at that wall with those
orders to follow. Would you have taken
them seriously? Would you have followed
them or come up with another plan?
Consider this possibility; that every wall that is set before you God
has a specific way of addressing it.
There are not two ways; there is not an alternative plan He has in
mind. Only one solution is acceptable to
Him, only one method for dealing with it.
What if you know what He wants done and you must decide if you will
trust Him in it? Will you let Him be in
charge? Consider this possibility. Not only Is God wanting you to trust Him with
regard to the wall, He has trusted you to follow His instructions. Is God making a good decision? Should He trust you? Can the Lord count on you to follow His
instructions, to do things the way He wants them done? Will you embarrass Him by the way you deal
with the wall you face?
Nehemiah
is often referred to as, “The Wall Builder”.
Jerusalem had for three generations remained in ruins. A few homes had been rebuilt, some gardens
started, commerce reestablished. But its
wall remained a wreck. As long as this
was the case, the few settlers in the city were in danger of being killed or
enslaved by any marauding band of soldiers passing through the territory. Nehemiah was a high ranking official in the
Persian court, the cupbearer to the king.
One day his brother came to town and informed Nehemiah what he
discovered when he visited Jerusalem. Hanani,
one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them
about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about
Jerusalem. They said to me, "Those
who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned
with fire." (Nehemiah 1:2-3
NIV) At this point, as Nehemiah heard
the news of the condition of the chief city of his ancestors, he had to process
carefully what this meant for him. The
wall required someone with leadership skills to lead the rebuilding
effort. It would be a monumental task. Nehemiah really did not yet even know how great an effort it would
take to get it done. He did however
realize that for more than seventy years nothing had been done about the
demolished wall and for good reason. No
one thought the wall could be rebuilt.
Consider
carefully this possibility. The reason
Nehemiah found out about how bad the situation in Jerusalem was and the
condition of the wall is because the Lord gave him that information. It was God who put together his brother’s
trip to Jerusalem and his eyewitness account to Nehemiah of what he saw. If that is the case and the Biblical view of
life is that God is in charge of it all, what we see and what we hear and what
we face, then, it was the Lord who gave him that information about the
wall. Now why would the Lord do that? Why would he give Nehemiah this report of the
terrible need for help in Jerusalem?
Perhaps the wall was Nehemiah’s responsibility to fix. Maybe God was assigning this task to
him. That is why He told Nehemiah about
it. That is why he gave Nehemiah the
career he had, gave him his friendship with the king of Persia. Is it possible that the wall “had Nehemiah’s
name on it”? Nehemiah seemed to think
so. Why else did he ask the king for
permission to go to Jerusalem and work on it.
The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases
the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to
the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."
(Nehemiah 2:4-5 NIV)
When
Nehemiah got to Jerusalem he discovered that conditions were even worse than he
imagined. The people were disorganized
and discouraged. Threats were made against
his life by leaders of neighboring countries who did not want the wall rebuilt. God gave Nehemiah a wall to build but he did
not make it easy for him. In fact it was
a foolish and terrifying proposition to try and rebuild the wall. God left this wall in Nehemiah’s hands. It was up to Nehemiah to take up the project
of rebuilding the wall. He trusted
Nehemiah to make the right decision.
What if God has a wall for you to build?
What if it is too hard for you to build?
It is too much work? It is not
something anyone else thinks you should do.
Will you do it anyway? Will you
build that wall? What if God is waiting
for you to do it? What if He trusts you
with this wall? Will you prove Him right
to believe in you? You cannot say you do not know about the
wall. He has already laid out all the
facts. What will you do about it?
It
is surprising when you give it much thought how many of God’s prophets faced
terrible circumstances. Many were put in
nearly impossible circumstances that that would have pushed most of us to
quit. Why tell people what God has said
when no one wants to listen? Why put
yourself in danger when it seems pointless?
Why keep preaching when if feels hopeless. The prophet Habakkuk stood on the wall of
Jerusalem and saw nothing but darkness.
The Babylonians were going to come and conquer Judah. It was impossible to stop them. Disaster loomed and Habakkuk had no inspiring
revelation from God that all would work out if he just did not lose hope. The last words of the book he wrote are some
of the most elevating found in Scripture though. They state the sort of determination that
heroes in movies and great works of literature make, that Ivanhoe or Aragorn or
Captain America or Wonder Woman or the Black Panther would make. No matter what may happen, no matter how bad
it gets, I will not yield. I will not
quit. God trusted Habakkuk to not
surrender to fear, to not give in to despair.
He trusted Habakkuk with the great message of trouble. Habakkuk made one of the most inspiring
declarations found anywhere in Scripture and we must carefully let it sink in
to us. I heard and my heart pounded, my
lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs
trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for
the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there
are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce
no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes
my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. (Habakkuk
3:16-19 NIV)
The
Lord trusted Habakkuk at the wall. God
let him see what really was going to happen, gave him the complete picture and
believed his friend could handle it. He told
Habakkuk that trouble was coming, trouble that would shatter the faith of many
and he watched to see how Habakkuk took it.
What if you heard that your life was going to be tough, that it would be
hard what you face? Would you stand with
your eyes staring into the storm and trust Christ then? Would you courageously believe that God will
be with you and see you through the hurricane that is on the horizon? Will you trust the Lord not just when it is
sunny and clear but also when the lightning flashes and the thunder billows and
the wind threatens your home? Can God
trust you at the wall? Are you the one
who has the courage to stand when others run away and hide? Do you truly believe in Christ your
Savior? Your time will come when the
evidence seems to indicate that God does not love you, that He has forgotten
you and that you are alone in this. Yet
the evidence will be wrong and those who will tell you to give up on your God
and your faith in Him will be wrong. You
alone will be able to quiet the critics and the noise of despair by declaring
with Habakkuk. “I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Decide now. At the foot of the
wall, make your declaration. “The Sovereign Lord is my strength!” God will see you through the storm and you
will be victorious. The future is on
your side!
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