Nehemiah chapter 3 records the names of the individuals and teams who joined in the rebuilding project of Jerusalem’s walls under the supervision of Nehemiah. At first glance, the names of these people and the descriptions of the sections of the wall that they built seem to have little significance for us… But in reality, this chapter has much practical application to our families today!

The work of building the walls of the holy city required trust in the promises of God, as well as a putting of the shoulder to the work. This was a grass-roots effort on everyone’s part; it required hard physical labor and the sweat of the builders’ brows. People and leaders from Jerusalem were involved in this work, but the laborers also included people from the surrounding towns. It was not just the common folk who joined in this project, but also members of the trade guilds – the wealthy people of the day. And it was not just men, either. Although the ladies were not physically employed in the woodwork and stonemasonry, their work of encouraging and assisting the builders was not forgotten by the Lord.

Jehovah had promised to bring His people back to their homeland, and to cause them to prosper. But there was still work for them to do! This should encourage us to stop and examine our own lives. Are we merely happy with God’s promises, and content to simply sit around and wait for them to “just happen”? God does not intend for believers to be sedentary people. Are we diligently working to build, repair, and maintain the walls of our Christian life and the walls that guard and protect our homes and families? Is our wall of relationships strong? Are we building up our marriages with precious stones? Are we praying for generations to come? What about the wall of our character? Are we building up that section of the wall? How about the refuse gate? Is filthy garbage coming out of our mouths, or are we using our tongues to build up and encourage one another? Is there still a breach in the wall around our souls, through which Satan and his sneaky forces can gain an entrance into our hearts, by what we absorb with our eyes or listen to with our ears? Or is he sealed out with a strong gate? Is the wall around our souls maintained by the Word of God, and by personal and family devotions? Do we inspect the prayer-section of our wall every day?

Let us beseech the Lord for grace to not treat this matter thoughtlessly! Let us ask Him for strength to diligently and regularly inspect the walls of defense around our souls, and to repair and build up the places where there are breaches yet to be found!

All for our King’s glory,
Christian

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