Here, there
are lush stakes, grapes and vines from the choicest vine trees in Susa; the
palace has an imposing figure, with monstrous pillars embellished with
traditional art pictures and structures. There is everything a man would hope
for.
In Jerusalem, the city of the natives of
Israel, God’s beloved children are gripped by hear and hopelessness. The story
is starkly different. The streets are deserted; desolation permeates every nook
and cranny. No sound of children chasing one another, or the noise from the
popular market-no sale, no goods. There is a precarious feeling of security,
the walls have fallen down; the temple, God’s tabernacle, lie
in ruins.
Nehemiah served the great Artaxerxes
with unstinting devotion. For Nehemiah, it is a perfect place to acquire all
his retirement benefits under the king. There was wealth, merriment, and
comfort.
But
Nehemiah’s heart was completely removed from Susa and its riches. His heart was
somewhere in Jerusalem. The ruins over there have unsettled him. He had
everything he wanted here, but the Israelites did not. And he wanted to do
something about it.
So he turned
his back on all the safety and ‘good’ life and took the herculean task of
rebuilding the broken walls of Jerusalem.
Exemplary,
isn’t it? How often we’re unwilling to exercise sacrifice for the good of others
or for our country. You and I will be called occasionally to give up ourselves
for our friends, colleagues, neighbours, the body of Christ and our country. He
didn’t just do it because Israel belonged to God; Nehemiah was a patriot who
had a selfless heart, a heart where Jesus resides. He lived for His King and
his country.
In a time where the fabric of our
country is sawn in two by vices of its own making, there is a desperate cry for
reformers, visionaries, builders and the like to get their acts together.
Nehemiah is a national hero, a patriot.
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