Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (NIV)
Nehemiah is the story of one man’s journey to rebuild the torn down and desolate walls of the capital city of his home. It is an epic story of triumph and redemption for the exiled people of God. It is also God’s guide to show us how to rebuild the broken down walls of self-control in our lives.
How did we lose control? When did we throw off restraint and begin to indulge in every foolish, sinful and ultimately harmful pleasure? For most of us it is hard to identify the moment when it happened. Like Nehemiah perhaps we may look at it as a sad inheritance. The city of Jerusalem was lying fallow, the walls long in ruin when Nehemiah became cupbearer to the king of the empire of Persia. Likewise when we entered the scene, perhaps our parents didn’t have self-control, so they couldn’t teach it to us. Perhaps like the people of God, we rebelled against authority. Did your parents warn you… if you overeat… you’ll be fat and sick? If you watch that stuff it will pollute your mind? If you don’t save your money and work diligently you will get in debt. God sure warned Nehemiah’s people. He sent many prophets telling them to turn back to Him, but the people rebelled against God. So God gave them over to the consequences of their poor decisions. An enemy came and breached the walls of Jerusalem, ravaged the city, raped and enslaved the people of God taking most of them into captivity. The enemy tore down almost every stone of the walls of Jerusalem. The small remnant who remained living in Jerusalem lived in squalor, both weak and miserable, subject to the capriciousness of their wicked neighbors.
Perhaps that is how you feel right now. You are wounded and bitter. Maybe depressed about your prospects and dwelling on your mistakes. You have been abused, or perhaps you were the abuser. You are in debt and overweight, and addicted to porn, drugs or alcohol. Or perhaps you can’t sleep at night, and sit watching empty television or playing mindless violent video games. The idea of true intimacy in marriage, having close friendships, and finding purpose in your work has eluded you. In fact, if you are honest, you gave up long ago on finding any purpose, success or fulfillment in your work, and it maybe never occurred to you to seek for these things in your home life.
Perhaps you fared better than that. Perhaps you still have a wall or two standing. You get up early and take a shower each morning. You put on nice clean clothes and head to your job. You get to work on time and work hard, most of the time a full day, to earn your wages. You do put in extra hours when needed. You bag your lunch sometimes to save a few dollars and you give a few percent to the church. You have a nice home and can afford the mortgage payments. Yeah you even save a little money in the bank, although it seems to leak away pretty easily. You go to church on most Sundays. You occasionally read your Bible. You watch or read news enough to be somewhat informed about the world. You do your share of chores at home (dinner, dishes, laundry, dusting, mopping, bathrooms, shopping…). OK, maybe the house is a little out of control, but you take care of your pets, try to call your parents, and feed your children.
But lets ask some painful questions: Did you do anything of eternal significance today?
After you got home from work, did you choose your activities or were you too tired to do anything except watch a show? Did you pray for anyone today? Do you have any disciples (someone who looks to you as a mentor) or a close friend who you meet with regularly for encouragement and accountability? Did you read the Bible or attend a weekly Bible study? Did you share your faith with anyone today? Maybe faith “activities” aren’t your thing.
But if you had to give account to your creator for how you used your precious time today, are you proud of your choices?
Did you get to know your neighbors? Did you lead or serve in your community, perhaps in local government, on the PTA, as a team captain for your bowling league, at a soup kitchen or as a coach for kids? Are you being creative? Perhaps writing a book, blogging or journaling, making paintings, writing songs, cooking or sewing? Did you do exercise, either playing sports with friends, or bicycling or jogging? Perhaps you took a walk with your spouse? Did you learn anything new today? Perhaps studying global warming, or astrophysics or Hebrew, or you listened to a sermon or a Ted talk about child psychology?
Lack of self-control has a hidden cost beyond the addictions, debt and ruined relationships. Even if we avoid these catastrophic pitfalls, we can still waste the most precious capital that we have been given, our time in this world to be an influence for good.
Here is my translation of Proverbs 25:28 from the Hebrew:
Proverbs 25:28 “A city utterly being broken down without a wall is a man without restraint to his spirit.”
Where do I lack restraint in my spirit? What temptation can’t I resist? A cold beer. A hot cup of coffee. A warm chocolate chip cookie? An R rated movie with a jaw dropping star. Six hours of Call of Duty. Three hours of Game of Thrones? Staying up late. Buying clothes. Watching youtube or Netflix. Checking email and Facebook every 5 minutes. Texting for 2 hours. We all can look somewhere and see that our walls are crumbling.
From the LXX Septuagint: Prov 25:28 ” Just like a city whose walls have been cast down leaving it unwalled, is a man who does not have a design from wise counsel for the things he does.”
Lack of intentionality. Lack of restraint. Lack of wise counsel.
An enemy of our souls lurks.
What does Nehemiah have to offer us in rebuilding our walls?
- Seeing our True Condition- A Broken Heart – mourning and repenting
- Seeking a new vision – a season of prayer and fasting
- Deciding a new vision is worth dying for – the first step of faith
- Making a plan and starting the Journey – leaving our comfort behind
- Assessing the Work to be Done – Inspecting the ruined walls alone
- Find the help to rebuild – Community and the Spirit
- Doing the hard work whole heartedly – a Surprising Helper on the Walls
- External Weapons of the Enemy – Ridicule, Intimidation, Distraction, Lies, Infiltration
- Internal Weapons of the Enemy – Disunity, Fear, Dissipation, Compromise, Losing heart
- Setting God back on the Throne – A Worship Revival
- Celebrate our Victory – A New Spirit of Joy
- Immersed in the Word of God – A new Hunger for Understanding
- A New Way –Bold steps to change the Big Things – A new Covenant
- Freedom from Relational Poverty – forgiveness and the Jubilee
- Freedom from Anxiety – Reliance on God – restoring the true Sabbath rest
- Faithful Stewardship – exchanging money for meaning – giving back to God
- Freedom from Compromise – divorce from the values of the world
- Freedom to follow the King – embracing the new mission
- Vigilance to walk the walls – fighting backsliding, infiltration, compromise
This is the outline. Now for the hard work… Getting started.
Atheist to Elder 