An excerpt from The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns encourages us to believe in what many may perceive as the impossible. By collectively working together, we can repair this broken world for the cause of Christ.
Discussing the book of Nehemiah in the Bible:
“Here is the scenario: Jerusalem, the holy city of God, lay in ruins. It had been sacked by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The temple had been destroyed; the great wall around the city toppled; and the people of God, slaughtered, with a remnant carried off to Babylon as slaves. Think for a moment about the gravity of this situation. The people God had set aside as His chosen ones; the magnificent temple built by Solomon to glorify and worship God; and the great city of Jerusalem, with its imposing walls, had been destroyed and pillaged by a heathen army. The very image and presence of God in the world had been smashed and defaced. Why? Because for generation after generation the kings of Judah and the Jewish people had sinned, disobeying God’s laws, worshiping other gods, and conforming to the pagan cultures surrounding them. Finally, God’s anger could be held back no more.
… Years passed, but then one day a man named Nehemiah, one of the Jews in exile in the city of Susa, eagerly questioned some men who had just come back from Jerusalem. He wanted to know if the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem were thriving and if the city itself had been rebuilt. The news was not good.
‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace,’ Nehemiah was told. ‘The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire’ (Neh. 1:3).
Nehemiah’s reaction to this news tells us a great deal about his heart: ‘When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven’ (v.4). Nehemiah was devastated by the report of his countrymen, but why? Why would he weep just because some walls had not been rebuilt?
Because Nehemiah saw Jerusalem through God’s eyes. He understand that it was the city of God’s chosen people, covenant people. Within its walls was the temple of the one God and the holy of holies, the very place where God forgave man’s sin.
… Let me now draw a symbolic comparison. In our world today, God’s image and identity are still defaced. They are slandered by poverty, by injustice, by corruption, by disease, and by human exploitation and suffering. And God’s name is defiled when His people willingly and apathetically accept the status quo, lacking the vision to lift up God’s holiness, goodness, and justice in a crumbling heart. God’s heart was broken over the condition of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time, and His heart is broken today by the condition of our world and our failure to challenge it.
Nehemiah was not willing to accept the status quo. He had a different vision. After weeping and fasting, Nehemiah prayed, first asking forgiveness for himself and the apathy and sin of God’s people. Then he challenged the Jews of Jerusalem to act: ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace’ (2:17).
Nehemiah’s approach was simple and inspiring. He was first a man of prayer. We see him praying at all times throughout the story, understanding that success would depend on God and not himself. He was also a man of vision. And above all, Nehemiah was a man of action- he was a doer. He was never overwhelmed by the enormity of the task; instead he was focused on using what he had to accomplish the goal. He divided the bigger goal into smaller pieces. He then developed detailed plans, raised money, and organized people to complete the task. Despite opposition and discouragement, he encouraged and inspired each person to do only what that individual could do- his own part. And he reminded people of the great truth in Scripture. In fact, Nehemiah had the Book of Law read aloud to the people from daybreak till noon, and we are told that they wept as they listened, repenting of their sins.
The result was amazing. The great wall that had lain in ruin for more than 150 years was rebuilt in fifty-two days! But how?
One stone at a time. In Nehemiah 3 alone, we read of more than forty different people and groups who each rebuilt the section of the wall that was nearest to them. Each person did the doable, the part that he could accomplish, that which was within his own reach. Then their collective power, when it was harnessed and channeled in alignment with God’s will- changed everything. Together, they did the impossible- in less than two months.
Our world, like Nehemiah’s, also lies in ruins, and we, too, need a fresh vision. Nehemiah’s vision was to rebuild the broken places and to life up God’s righteousness in a scoffing world. Our vision should be the same. If we can capture that vision, then we, too, can accomplish the impossible- one stone at a time- everybody doing something. If each child of God does his or her doable part, then collectively we can set aright a topsy-turvy world.”
DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!