Tired fingers open Holy Words as a
weeping heart wipes leaking tears. And the brokenness of the world
whispers weakly ---- we need ...
This morning i found comrads as i sat
on my couch and opened the leather book again. Letting myself go deep
and allowing time to connect where i am to where they were; it was as
if two places fit together --- almost perfectly.
When i was a girl, my parent's had
those timeless World Book Encyclopedias. We were fascinated by the
human body pages, they had the coolest overlay sheets. The first page
was simply an outline of the human body. But then one by one each
transparent information page was laid over it and the complexity and
completeness of the human body came into view. The skeleton, the
nervous system, the internal organs, the veins and arteries, each had
it's own page. Not until all the transparency pages were laid
together could you get the full picture of the miracle of the human
body God created.
It's such a familiar picture of what
happens in us as we kids of Abba sit with Him and look into His word.
We can begin to see m-o-r-e as He lays another overlay page on the
one we bring to Him. And the longer we sit in His classrooms of life,
the more pages He overlays into us.
King Solomon declared in Ecclesiastes
that “there is nothing new under the sun”.
When i was younger and read this, i
thought him not-so-wise. For to me, at my young age, so many things
were new. Ahh yes, my ignorance showed for sure. But, as i celebrate
my 53rd birthday --- and youth is no longer my
running-mate --- Solomon's words sound very right. Truly, there isn't
anything new. All that we experience has been experienced before by
others who perhaps thought they too were the only ones to have
visited those high mountain-top moments or low-valley journeys. We've
all been wrong on this one if we thought we were experiencing
something new... instead it's just an “old” thing coming to a new
place.
Solomon wasn't being negative --- he
was being clear.
There's nothing new under the sun. So
what we're facing today, was faced yesterday, and someone will face
the same tomorrow. But --- HOW we face it today --- that could be
difference.
Terror has emerged again ---- but it is
not new. In these wonderful old pages, the revisiting of it's schemes
can be seen, and the sureness of its defeat is remembered.
Nehemiah had trouble on his hands.
It's the place where the days of old
met my day today on the space of a couch this morning.
I brought my simple outline drawing of
me, my life, my heart, my need, as i sat on that early-morning-couch
---- asking for... (too much to list).
I'd read through Chapters 1 and 2 and 3
--- remembering the story from my vacation Bible school days. We'd
drawn “the wall” on paper, built “the wall” in skits, read
the story, and cheered the words, “I'm doing a great work and i can
not come down...” (thank you again God for a momma and daddy who
made sure their little ones were in those rooms on Union Hill Road).
But for two days now, sitting in
Africa, so far from those sweet days, the Lord has laid another page
over my simple outline. And Nehemiah has become ----- a friend to me.
You see, Nehemiah was doing the work
the Lord had given him to do. He was “on assignment”. Rebuild the
wall. But he had enemies, many of them. Sanballat, Tobiah, Arabs,
Ammonites, Ashdodites, Samarian officers... all these mocked Nehemiah
and the jews who worked to rebuild the wall.
Overlay page --- “when you obey
God, there will be enemies who oppose you...”
Nehemiah's response to this --- he
prayed.
“Hear us, our God, for we are being
mocked...”
As scoffers criticized and Nehemiah
prayed, the work continued and the wall was completed to half its
height around the entire city. The Word says the people “worked
with enthusiasm”.
Overlay page --- “keep steady at
the work donna, no matter what goes on around you.”
Then in verse 7 the Word says those who
opposed the rebuilding of the wall were furious because the work was
continuing, the wall was being repaired, their threats and criticisms
had not hindered the workers. So the enemies made plans to go to
Jerusalem, fight against the builders, and throw confusion into the
work.
Overlay page --- “sometimes
enemies will criticize with words, but sometimes their plans will
bring threat of an attack”.
Nehemiah's response to these plans of
an attack --- “We prayed to our God and guarded the city day and
night to protect ourselves.”
Their response of old brought another
overlay for me today. This one had no lines on it, nothing was drawn,
but instead it was a solid color, of the faintest blue. Blue being a
that calms. This overlay page of “prayer” doesn't directly
respond to any line below it– instead it just covers over
everything beneath it – it changes the intensity of the dark lines
of enemy-attack-plans --- it weakens them, it speaks of something
powerful enough to COVER anything under it.
Imagine with me how tired these workers
must have been.
Nehemiah himself, he'd worked and
planned, up early and working late, with tools in his hands and plans
in his head, he was a man working overtime. He's no different than a
man today, working to get the contracted job done, managing many
people in challenging conditions. But Nehemiah had enemies breathing
down his neck, he was extra tired, for his eyes must have always been
on the horizon, watching for the approach of those who would do them
harm.
Then verse 10 comes and it became so
“real” to me as i read the words. “Then the people of Judah
began to complain, 'The workers are getting tired, and there is so
much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by
ourselves.'” Surely --- we today are like these of old. Working
hard. Pressing ahead even when obstacles and enemies distract us.
Growing tired. Praying for strength to “guard the city day and
night, to protect ourselves, and keep steady at the work”... But in
our humanness, we get tired and perseverance grows thin and we begin
to ------ complain. Our weary eyes cause us to focus on the “rubble”
that needs to be moved instead of the progress of the “wall”. We
hear the murmurings of others, the criticisms too, and we lose sight
of the race that has been set before us.
The mumblings and grumblings of those
around us ------ can weigh us down ---- like lead boots in a lake.
And murmuring complaints are as
contagious as flu germs passing from mouth to mouth. What a gross
picture that is --- we don't want to think of germs jumping into our
mouths. But isn't the image accurate? When one mouth murmurs ----
those around it have to steadfastly WORK (at the wall) to not allow
those words to jump into their own mouths and multiply off their own
tongues.
It's what happened in Jerusalem.
Complaints began, people were discouraged and tired, they were weak,
the doubting thoughts and strained attitudes were contagious.
Sanballat and Tobiah were not the only
enemies at work against the builders on the wall.
The most dangerous enemies are the ones
who find a way to sneak inside our “camp” --- and come out of our
own mouths.
Overlay page --- “don't let
murmuring come from your mouth or sit in your thoughts, don't
surround yourself with those who do”.
In the midst of their murmurings, their
enemies sent threats, “We will swoop down on them, kill them, and
end their work”(V 11). FEAR screams at us when we are already tired
--- and threats make their way to our door. More words came, “They
will come from all directions and attack us!”(V 12).
There's nothing new under the sun ---
is there?
Yesterday, terrorists killed over a
hundred people in France. Many more were seriously injured. Today,
hundreds of families grieve their loses. And we see threats of terror
and attack unfold. Some tremble, some want to hide away in their
homes and forget any “wall” they might have been called to build.
But others, they step forward like Nehemiah. He had a response to the
threats that came in his day. Verse 13, “So I placed armed guards
behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed
the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and
bows. (14) Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the
nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, 'Don't be afraid
of the enemy! Remember the Lord who is great... and fight for your
brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”
Only God could let Nehemiah's strength
speak to my tears this morning.
His words spoke straight through from
those days long gone to these days before us.
We've been given assignments by the One
who knows what is needed ---- He knows where the needs are --- He has
a master plan --- He knows what HE IS DOING.
But we kids... we get tired... we hear
threats... and we wonder... will we ever be able to finish the work
before us...
Then word of terror comes --- and we
wonder, will they swoop down on us and kill us and end our work...?
And we doubt ----- ourselves ---- as we
doubt ---- the One.
But the Nehemiah's are among us.
They must not be silent before us.
Those anointed by God to speak the same
truths to us that Nehemiah spoke as he stood beside the wall and said
“Fight for your homes and for those in your care”.
Overlay page --- DO NOT shrink back,
do not be afraid – Remember the Lord is great ---
fight for what He has given you.
In the moments of
morning when the birds begin to sing, it was as if the Holy One
breathed in the room, as Nehemiah's words kept coming and Abba's
whispers filled air-------
Do not be afraid...
donna – do not be
afraid for your sons and daughter.
Wars and rumors of
wars will come, that is nothing new--- bullies have always been, and
they will always be, until Heaven's doors are opened wide and hell's
gates are sealed shut.
daughter – hold
steady at the work, FIGHT for what is yours, do not murmur, do not
complain, do not whimper in fear or listen to lies of terror.
REMEMBER ME, for I AM GREAT... I am with you... I have already won...
no matter how things look... Calvary's work is still alive...
(15)”When our
enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated
them, we all returned to our work on the wall.
(16) But from then on, only half the men worked while
the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and
coats of mail... (17)...the laborers carried on their work
with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon.
(18) All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The
trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.”
And i thought of
all the laborers i know who remain steady at the work.
I let myself
envision all the ones i know who stand guard with weapons --- not
literal weapons, but the powerful weapons that flow from “the
fervent, effective prayer of the righteous”. The most powerful
warriors among us are the ones who have weathered many years. It's
not their first rodeo... They can see a more complete image of life,
because they've let the Holy Warrior place many overlay pages upon
them. They see more, even as their eyes grow dim; their lenses don't
focus on the things of this world. They SEE MORE.
And they pray
fervently, passionately, powerfully ---- they pray as if victory
could unfold in the words they utter --- because they lift those
words to the ONE who is over all things.
They know how to
draw a sword, because they've had many years of becoming well
acquainted with how it feels in their hands, how to sharpen it, how
to grasp it firmly and swing it at just the right moment. Their
aging, weakened hands can do more damage with the sword they hold
because they pull it from the sheath that's between the leather bound
pages of power and life. They know the double edged surfaces of the
sword they hold; it is heavier than a shaft of iron. It's the “Word
of God” and its power shakes the gates of hell and crumbles those
trained in terror.
Verse (19)... “The
work is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other
along the wall. So when you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to
wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us!”
Oh my heart – as
i read the words -- “we are widely separated from each other along
the wall...”
How right Solomon
was, there really is nothing new under the sun.
People have been
widely separated from those they love --- for ages and ages. But so
often, it is what is required --- for the work to be completed.
No matter where we
are working. No matter what threats are given. No matter that there
are enemies trying to stop the building of the wall of hope and
goodness and life and love --- the final word is this ---
“Our God will
fight for us!”
(21)“We worked
early and late, from sunrise to sunset. And half the men were always
on guard...(23) “During this time, none of us ever took off our
clothes...we carried our weapons with us at all times...”
Solomon was right
--- “there is nothing new under the sun”.
There is much work
to be done ---
Those who can build
---- build.
Those who can pray
---- pray.
Those who can lead
---- lead.
We must not be
deterred ---- we must not be afraid!
Final
overlay --- “Our God will fight for us!”
 |
| (found this pic on fb -- don't know who to give the credit to --- but THANK YOU to whoever made it!) |
