Monday, July 16, 2018

The Wall


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
started with two miles and then three.  Eventually we were running four miles a day and we kept pushing ourselves further.  Mary Jo was actually in training, preparing to compete in the Crescent City Classic, a ten-kilometer race through New Orleans.  I did not plan on running in it but because of my pride, I did not want her outrunning me so each time she extended her runs, I did mine also.  We were running five miles, and then we were at six miles, four times a week.  Finally we were running seven miles together and then the week before the race, we ran a full ten miles.  Because the Crescent City Classic is only 6.2 miles, we both felt confident we could do well in the race.  There was only one problem.  I did not want to run in it.  Although Mary Jo kept urging me to enter, I told her I wouldn’t.   I did all the training for the race but I refused to run when it was time.  I cannot say why I wouldn’t compete.  I might have been afraid I wouldn’t do well.  It could have been that I was concerned that Mary Jo might beat me.  It’s not that I did not like to run or wasn’t prepared for the race.  For some reason, there was a wall that kept me from running in it; a wall I refused to climb.

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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