“Stand up an praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” Nehemiah 9:5b
Nehemiah was a civil governor, sent with authority from the Persian King to rebuild the Jerusalem wall, thus returning the City of David to the fortified city of refuge it had once been.
Solomon’s temple had been restored, but otherwise, Jerusalem offered no place of hope or future. Threats from neighbors, real and imagined, hindered the Jews from rebuilding their home. Then Nehemiah came with power and resources from the Persian King and in 52 days had the job completed. How? He prayed and petitioned God in all things. When the wall was finished he and Ezra, the priest, led the people in once again becoming the covenant people of the One True God, the Jewish Nation. They organized worship, read daily from the Book of Law and gave simple applications for Holy living. Revival occurred, the people repented and turned to God.
The above verse is the first line of the national confession. It continues through the chapter restating that God remained loving and faithful through the rebellion of His covenant people.
God is faithful, from everlasting to everlasting. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild a wall, his real mission was to bring a dispersed and barely recognizable nation together and restore its identity in God alone. It wasn’t the wall that transformed these people of old, it was their return to worship and obedience within the wall that changed the course of their history.
A solid wall won’t give you hope and a future, but faithful obedience will guarantee it!
Love,
Gretchen