Rebuilding the walls

Nehemiah, in captivity, sat in the back of Jewish humanity in the palace complex at Susa. It was the month of Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, the king. At the hour for serving wine, Nehemiah brought it in and gave some to the king. 

Nehemiah, the cup bearer for the king, felt depressed, so much so that the king noticed. Nehemiah said, "Long live the king! And why shouldn't I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders."

Of course, Nehemiah said, things were rotten in, er, Jerusalem. 

Ever been there? Ever felt so low because of circumstances that you couldn't operate? There was but one solution. Nehemiah needed to help rebuild the city. 

Nehemiah packed up the RV, hit the road, arrived in Jerusalem and in three days got things rolling. He did some scouting, some asking, some planning. Then he told the Jews in the city what he saw. 

"Face it; we're in a bad way here. Jerusalem is a wreck; its gates are burned up; Come -- let's build the wall of Jerusalem and not lie with this disgrace any longer." Nehemiah told them how God was supporting him and how the king in Babylon was supporting all this."

When's the last time you really committed to, uh, something? Gave it all you had and a bit more?

Last night I was at a local church dinner, and before we hastily made our way to the conclusion, they handed out commitment cards from that church. We were given the option of filling out the cards, thereby telling the collectors of said cards that we were making Jesus our Lord and Savior, or re-commiting our lives to Jesus, or three or four other categories. Our prayers were then recorded.

I felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, mainly because I thought something as big as the moment in my life in which I committed or surrendered to Jesus might ought to be a moment in which I took long minutes to think this over, certainly more than the final minutes of a dinner party. I sure thought that committing to Jesus was much more important a moment than than picking a number out of a bucket and giving me a rod and reel. Just saying.

Here's the bottom line, friends. Committing to Jesus is the most serious moment of our lives, I would think. Committing to Jesus is sure enough the most important moment of our lives. "Therefore, let's build the wall of Jerusalem together and not let it lie with disgrace any longer."