Nehemiah was a wall builder. He saw his city in ruins with physical and spiritual eyes. He heard the voice of the Lord as He cried out to God. Then he went to the city, sounded the call and led God’s people to rebuild the walls of their city. They accomplished their task, with a weapon in one hand and a tool in another. The city was fortified, and God was glorified.

Robert Lupton’s book Renewing the City shares this story in narrative form. I share these words from this book with you. May the Holy Spirit speak to your hearts.

“The temple, rebuilt several generations ago, had been upgraded under Ezra’s leadership. Many original gold and silver vessels and adornments from Solomon’s great temple had been returned from the imperial treasury in Babylon, and he had inspired many Babylonian Jews to give liberally to temple operations. That was certainly important, Nehemiah told himself. But a temple huddling in a burnt-out city laid open to the appetites of predators, a city devoid of governance of elders at the gates, a city whose economy was little more than a haven for charlatans and loan sharks – what good was a house of God when there was no city of God to implement its beliefs?” (Emphasis mine.)

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“And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairers of the breach, the restorers of the streets in which to dwell” (Isaiah 58:12).