Day 14 - March 8, 2007
Nehemiah 1:1-11
Nehemiah. He’s the one who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. His life is chronicled for us, and has been held up for over two millennia as an exemplary model of leadership and management. He’s held up as a man of action.
But action is always, always, always, the wrong starting point. “Quick, do something.” It’s a formula for a life of aimless wondering, from relationship to relationship, from job to job, church to church, city to city. Instead, what’s vital is that our action be borne out of a critical element. What is that element?
- Seeing – Nehemiah has ‘eyes in his heart’ that are sensitized to what would be best for the situation in Israel. Thus, although there’s been a return to the city, and a rebuilding of the temple, nobody seems to have noticed that the wall is in a state of ruin. Or perhaps, worse, people did notice, but had lost the capacity to grieve over the tragic state of things. It’s emminantly easy to make a truce with mediocrity – in our marriages, in our professions, in our churches. But when we realize that God’s vision for us is nothing less representing Christ’s heart in ALL these places, the seeing of that vision will give birth to a holy discontent. And this is where all great endeavors begin. Can we see possibilities? Can we see what is in comparison to what could be? This is the determinant of our destiny, and sadly, the indictment of Jesus is that many will go through life with eyes, yet never seeing. When this happens, there are two tragedies. The first is that things have fallen into disrepair. The second, far worse, is that we’ve become so jaded that we don’t see it.
Ask God to give you ‘eyes to see’ both what is and what ought to be, what can be, in the many roles of your life. Allow God to speak to you about adjustments needed in your marriage (or singleness), your relationships with family, your profession or studies, and what God might desire for our church and for your role in it. Then, like Nehemiah, begin to pray that God would give you the grace to progress in this realm.
Like yesterday… feel free to share some of the things God is showing you by posting a response.
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