MVTClass.com

Good class discussion today.  Just when you wonder how the Old Testament is relevant today, we’re reminded that just as Nehemiah’s purpose was to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem, so it is our mission to build God’s Kingdom – the New Jerusalem:

5 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” 
11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days.
12 Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode.
13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue.
15 So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”
18 I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building; but you have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem.”  Neh 2:5, 11-20 (NRSV)

Of course, the problem isn’t the ultimate goal – it’s how we get there.  Nehemiah shows us that careful measurement and contemplation of the task, together with prayer for God’s guidance, is necessary before we commence to rally support.  There is a lesson in the reaction of the people as well.  We must also be mindful of keeping open minds toward the leadership of others.  We could scoff with the Sanballats, Tobiahs and Geshems of the world, but it is better to lay our hand to the work; to say “Let us start building!”