Archive 2005 Archive 2006 Archive 2007 Archive 2008

Nehemiah is a book about many things - leadership, vision, vision casting, building the Kingdom of God, spiritual warfare.  It's also about fresh starts and resurrection.

Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem with his king's permission and a vision from God to restore the broken walls surrounding that great city.  After he arrives, Nehemiah surveys the damage, which includes an assessment of what can be salvaged from the rubble.  Herein lies the theme of restoration...renewal...resurrection.

He and his cohorts make fun of the fact that the Jews are forced to use substandard material, referring to the stones that came from the debris of the destroyed walls (4:2-3).  While the enemy mocks the use of such pathetic material, what a prime opportunity for God to do what he does best - create and re-create.  What better material for God to use to build his Kingdom than stone that is "broken" before God.

As the New Community of God, we are being built together anew - reconstructed - as we come before God in brokennes, and Jesus himself is the cornerstone of this temple of God.  Peter, the Rock who was once himself broken before Jesus (John 21), proclaims to us:

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple.  He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.
1 Peter 2:4-5 (NLT)

Peter is saying that all of God's people are "rocks" with which Jesus is building the Kingdom of God!  (Check out also what Paul says about this in Ephesians 2:19-22!) Isn't it just like God to create something out of nothing?  To re-create wholeness out of brokenness?  What an amazing God we serve!

This is the very thing He wants to do in your life, and in my life...and in the life of his church!  Being in a place of brokenness is the best place to be for God to really use us.

God uses the things the world considers weak in order to shame those who think they are strong (1 Corinthians 1:27).  So as we worship at the foot of the Cross, and as we gaze upon the empty tomb, we can be reminded of the weakness God took upon himself, the frailty of humanity, so that God's strength could be demonstrated through resurrection power.

And in that reminding, may we know, firsthand, all that God desires to do in us so that we experience genuine transformation, restoration, and resurrection power as we seek his face, and serve him with our lives.  We are re-created for the glory of God!

With Awe and Wonder,