Remember Your Great and Awesome Lord

"Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night. Then Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall'...And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.'"
(Nehemiah 4:9,10,14)

Nehemiah is a wonderful book to study. The wall surrounding Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt in order to keep out her enemies. Nehemiah is the chosen leader for the job. This is a great lesson on restoration, especially that of a nation. However, I want us to think about the broken places in our own lives.

"There is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall..."

That's a good way to put it, isn't it? When we find our world falling apart it can seem overwhelming - impossible. The broken places are surrounded by rubble. Crumbled hearts and people stare us in the face. Maybe job loss and financial security rolls away and tumbles into the mound of rubble surrounding us. A life of depression has replaced the one filled with hope and joy. There is no strength left - no protective barrier - to fight off the enemy. We lay vulnerable and frightened in the dark.

There is so much rubbish it seems impossible to rebuild the wall.

What did Nehemiah tell the children of Israel when they wanted to give up? Verse 14 says, "Do not be afraid of them (the enemies). Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

FIGHT.
Don't give up.
Remember your great and awesome Lord.

I love Isaiah 58:12, "Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to Dwell in."

You, friend shall rebuild the old waste places when you remember the great and awesome Lord. He will strengthen you to repair the breaches - the broken places in your life. He will anoint you with power to restore your paths.

The Hebrew word for restorer is shub (shoov). It means to "turn back, return, retrieve." It also means to "go back to a point of departure" (commentary, Spirit Filled Life Bible).

Go back to a point of departure.
Oh my goodness.
Let it sink in.

Go back to the point of departure.

Can you identify the turning point in your life? Or, can you identify when the broken place in your heart occurred? Let Jesus take you back to that place, clean off the rubble of disappointment and pain and help you rebuild the wall there. The great and awesome Lord is with you. You are His child. He will strengthen you; yea, He will help you. He will anoint you with power to overcome and repair the breach in your life, for He desires wholeness for His children.

But, you must REMEMBER Him. Remember your great and awesome Lord, the lover of your soul, your Redeemer and friend. Take His hand and return to the place of departure and ask Him to repair the broken place.

I've heard He is quite the cornerstone when it comes to building.

Father, we love You so much. You truly are a great and awesome Lord. Thank You for caring enough for us to desire our wholeness. When we are broken, You weep for us. Send Your power and restore Your people. There is much work to be done. Thank You Father.