Rebuilding The Gate

Nehemiah 3:13-14

‘Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate. Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.’ 

Following World War One, the French were, understandably, a little wary of their German neighbours. So, to protect themselves from future invasion, they came up with this great idea to build a big long wall along their Eastern border called the Maginot Line. But there was a tiny problem with their cunning plan. Instead of building a wall that stretched from coast to coast, the French figured that 280 miles was probably enough. And in 1940, the crafty Germans spotted the tiny flaw in this otherwise brilliant plan, marched around the wall and well…the rest is history. Life lesson: there is little value in building part of a wall. 

When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from exile, the first thing they did was to build a protective wall around the city. If you’ve ever read the book of Nehemiah, you’ll remember that a decent chunk of the book is just a list of names of people and families and which part of the wall they built. Why, you might ask, would God take up that much space in his Holy Bible, with a bunch of names of people and which part of a wall they built? There’s an important truth here which is incredibly counter cultural in the West with our fascination with celebrities and superstars. Although the book is named after Nehemiah, the story isn’t about a guy named Nehemiah who built a wall whilst the rest of the Israelites watched. It’s about all the builders!

The kingdom of God is not built by a few individuals who do impressive things that the rest of us marvel at. The kingdom of God is built by many people who, diligently and faithfully, build their small part of the wall. Whether your part of the wall is the ornate entrance or the dung gate, whether it’s leading a global ministry or raising your kids to know and love Jesus, it’s all vitally important. After all, there’s little point in part of a wall.  

Prayer- Father, thank you that you have chosen me. Please help me to be faithful in the things that you have called me to.