Project: Rebuild and Restore

based on the LGG Study, From Broken to Restored /w1d4

They will rebuild the perpetual ruins
and restore the places that were desolate;
they will reestablish the ruined cities,
the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

Isaiah 61:4

Don’t you just love reading/seeing the prophecies of the Scriptures fulfilled. Each one an encouragement that God’s promises are sure and certain and each one an assurance that Jesus is truly coming again!

Today’s Love God Greatly Devotional points out that more than three-hundred years passed between the promise God spoke through Isaiah and Nehemiah’s return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Actually, “when God made this promise, Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed.” However, they had been “warned” about the consequences of their disobedience. Yet, as the writer of the LGG devotion states, “God also promised that He would restore them, rebuilding what had been ruined and devastated.”

This is exactly what happens in Nehemiah 3. Gate after gate and section after section is rebuilt. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about the rebuilding for me, is that God allowed the people to participate in the rebuilding process. Seriously, go back and read the entire report. It’s worth reading every verse to see the personal involvement of God’s people – whether family units or priests, temple servants, goldsmiths, or inexperienced people – they came – one after another after another – and worked together to rebuild the walls.

Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have—Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.” ¹⁸ Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” So they readied themselves for this good project.

Nehemiah 2:17-18

If you look back to chapter two, specifically verse seventeen and eighteen, you will hear Nehemiah’s plea coupled with what I would call a cheer. After pointing out the problem they were facing was the desolation of Jerusalem he pleads for them to “come on.” He urges them, “let’s rebuild the wall;” and he cheers them on by assuring them that God’s hand was on Him. Read carefully and you will see that in large part their participation was due to the encouraging and passionate invitation of Nehemiah.

Going Further

Today’s going further is borrowed from the From Broken to Restored journal, w1d4. Read, reread, and then dwell on it for a bit. Let it soak in that no matter the season you are in – God is not only working in and on you but He invites you to join Him in the rebuilding process.