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September 12th
by Rose Murdock September 11th is a day that stands out in our minds. In America, many people remember it as a tragic day where many lives were lost. This year, the day after September 11th the Lord began speaking to my heart about what to do once a crisis is over. In fact, He began showing me that many people who have been in a crisis situation for an extended period of time will begin to come out of the crisis period and will begin to move forward. He spoke very clearly that today is September 12th. Not just literally, (although it was literally), but spiritually as well. For many people, the crisis is over and the rebuilding is beginning! If we’ve been in a crisis mode for a long period of time we can begin to lose sight of it ever being over. If we’ve been dealing with the same problem—whether it’s relationships, financial, health or whatever—for an extended time period then it’s easy for our hope to become clouded and for us to allow discouragement to settle in to the point that we feel we can never see our way out. But now, the dust has settled and the Lord is going to begin to open our eyes so we can see our way out of our difficulties. This will take vision on our part. This will take us allowing the Lord to show us how and what He wants to build in our lives. And it will also take some work and perseverance on our part. What do we do once a crisis is over? We might still feel like we are in shock. We might feel like we are dazed. That’s O.K. If we will stay close to the Lord He will bring a calmness and peace to our lives and to our surroundings so that we will be able to begin rebuilding. We see in the book of Nehemiah that Nehemiah had asked about the surviving Jewish people who had escaped the exile and about the condition of Jerusalem. He was told that they were in great trouble and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. Nehemiah’s first response was to sit down and weep before the Lord. He fasted and prayed for days petitioning God on behalf of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1).The Jewish people had suffered a great crisis when they were taken into captivity years before. Most of them were captured and taken away and the city was left in ruins. Even though the calamity was over the rebuilding had not yet been done. We might make it through a crisis but after the crisis comes a time of rebuilding. And there is a spiritual rebuilding that needs to occur if our rebuilding efforts are to have a firm foundation that will last. If we really want to build something that is going to last then it has to be built on a strong spiritual foundation. The first thing Nehemiah did after mourning the loss was to pray to God with a heart of worship and repentance. The first thing he said when he prayed is "O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments," (Neh. 1:5 Amp. Bible). He approached God first acknowledging His greatness. To begin any kind of rebuilding, whether it’s our own lives, our family’s, our church’s, our city’s or our nation’s, we need to start with an acknowledgement that God is the great God of Heaven who is greater than us and who created us. We’ve got to start with a recognition that there is none greater than Him. He’s it—He’s the Head Guy of the universe. We won’t believe in Him only if He fits into our lives, but we recognize that He is the center of truth and our ultimate purpose. This acknowledgement is like the thing that makes cement set. If we don’t start with this, our foundation will never be strong enough to hold anything for any length of time.After that, Nehemiah told the Lord that he recognized that He keeps His covenant and has mercy and love for those who keep His commandments. He was speaking of God’s faithfulness and His love towards His people. Once we acknowledge the supremacy of God then we express our recognition of His wonderful attributes—He is faithful and loving towards His people. If we know the might and majesty of God but not His faithfulness and love then we might not pursue a relationship with Him because of fear. If you know that the most powerful being in the universe has the ability to strike you dead if He wanted to, you might avoid Him if you don’t know that He is also desiring the best for you. He’s not on an ego trip, trying to prove His power to anyone, He is truly interested in what is best for the entire human race. This is another vital part of the true foundation on which our efforts must be based if we want our rebuilding to last. Next Nehemiah asked for God’s attention—His eyes and ears—and then he began repenting and acknowledging that Israel had sinned. He didn’t try and make excuses for their sin but admitted that both he and all of Israel had sinned. We don’t get anywhere with the Lord if we try and justify ourselves or make excuses for our sin. When we do that, we’re simply trying to say that God has made a mistake and our sin is not really that bad. If God says its wrong then its wrong and we just need to accept that, admit to it, repent and go on. It’s not an enjoyable thing to admit you’ve sinned. Nobody likes to do it. But it’s necessary. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. I’m not looking for God’s resistance but for His grace aren’t you? Also notice that Nehemiah kept calling himself ‘Your servant’. Whenever you see someone using that term in the Bible it’s a term of respect and humility. Nehemiah was sincere in his heart about his humble and reverent attitude towards the Lord. After all of that, Nehemiah reminded the Lord of His Word. He asked Him to remember what He said to Moses when He said, ‘if you transgress and are unfaithful, I will scatter you abroad among the nations;’ And that was in fact exactly what had happened. Israel had continually sinned against God and now they were scattered away from their homeland. But then Nehemiah went on to remind the Lord of what He had said which was, ‘But if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the farthest part of the heavens…, yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My Name.’ (Nehemiah 1:8-9 Amplified Bible)Basically Nehemiah has come before the Lord with mourning for the condition of his country, he’s fasted and prayed for days before God, worshipped God acknowledging His greatness, confessed the faithfulness, love and mercy of God, petitioned for God’s attention, admitted and repented for all of Israel’s sins and then he reminded Him of His Word and His promise to gather His people once again if they will return to Him and keep His commands. And after that, he was granted permission from the King to go and rebuild the city. God had answered Nehemiah’s prayer! All of that had to happen before the actual rebuilding could begin. Today, there are areas that need to be rebuilt in all of our lives. There is rebuilding that needs to occur in our families, cities, places of business, churches and in our country. First we need to know what areas of our lives are in shambles. We don’t always know that an area of our life is not working right because the spiritual foundation has crumbled. Nehemiah didn’t know at first what the condition of Jerusalem was until he asked. We need to ask the Lord to show us our spiritual condition. And from there we can follow Nehemiah’s example to lay a proper spiritual foundation that we can rebuild on. It’s time to rebuild. Let’s do it right and seek God before we start to try and put anything back together. We want a firm foundation that will withstand whatever might try and come against it. |
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