We are twelve days into Rise & Build, and Nehemiah 12 brings us to the moment we've been building toward from the beginning.
The wall is standing. The city is coming back to life, people are living there again, and worship has been restored. What began with Nehemiah sitting down and weeping over rubble has become something completely different.
Before moving on, they stop and worship.
Nehemiah brings the leaders onto the wall and divides them into two large choirs. They walk around the top of it, singing and giving thanks to God. And I immediately thought back to chapter 4, when Tobiah mocked them “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”Nehemiah 4:3
Now there weren't foxes walking on it.
There were whole choirs.
The very wall the enemy said wouldn't stand became the place God's people stood and worshiped.
We've spent this journey carrying stones, finding our section, building beside each other, facing opposition, returning to God's Word and remembering His faithfulness. But Nehemiah 12 reminds us that we can't stay so focused on the next section that needs work that we forget to recognize what God has already rebuilt.
It's easy to look at our lives, families, churches and ministries and see everything that still needs work. But look behind you too. There are prayers God has already answered, battles He's already carried us through and things standing today that we remember when they were still rubble.
Those things deserve our praise.
Nehemiah 12:43 says “The joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away.” Their joy had a sound because they knew what that wall represented. They remembered the rubble, the exhaustion, the threats and the opposition. None of it disappeared when the wall was finished. It became part of their testimony.
And I love that we're reading this chapter on a Sunday. Today many of us will walk into church carrying things that are still being rebuilt. There are still prayers we're waiting on and places that need work. But we're also walking in carrying the evidence of things God has already done.
So today, let's worship.
Let's not just sing the songs because it's Sunday and that's what we do. Let's remember the rubble. Remember where God found us. Remember what He's carried us through. Look around at the prayers already sitting in the room. The families, the children, the changed lives, the people God is bringing through the doors.
Nehemiah started this story weeping over a wall that had fallen. Now God's people are standing on that same wall praising Him so loudly their joy can be heard far away.
The wall the enemy said wouldn't stand became strong enough to hold the worship.
Today is Sunday.
We've carried the stones. We've watched God rebuild. We have plenty to praise Him for.
Let's worship and let the joy be heard.
Love Pastor Mandy
Daily reading Nehemiah 12
MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope
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