God Can Restore
The book of Nehemiah tells the story of a. God-ordained leader and His work to aid the restored community to rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem. But more than that, the book recounts God’s faithfulness to His promise to restore the fortunes of His people and grant them joy that comes through worshiping Him. In 444 BC, the Persian emperor Artaxerxes granted Nehemiah the freedom to relocate to the Jewish homeland, even appointing him to be the governor of Judah. Once there, Nehemiah led the people, descendants of the remnant that had returned from exile a century earlier, to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Under his direction, this task took only 52 days. In about 432 BC, Nehemiah was recalled to Persia for approximately a year before returning to Judah for a second term. Nehemiah’s inclusion of Ezra so that tells me his goal was to restore the spiritual health of the people along with rebuilding the wall. The exile to Babylon and the temple’s destruction gave a picture of the consequences of sin.
The fact that Jerusalem and it’s walls were in shambles was a picture of the spiritual state of the people and God wanted His people and His reputation restored in the land.
God putting the burden on Nehemiah’s hearts to rebuild the walls of the city showed that God had not forgotten His people and was ever-faithful to them. God used prophets like Malachi to preach to them and call them to repentance. God used Nehemiah to rebuild the wall, a symbol of the spiritual health of God’s people.
So who was this guy? Nehemiah just was a cup-bearer for the King. He was simply a servant. He was the guy who was tasked with drinking the from the King’s cup to ensure it wasn’t poisoned! WOW. They really valued this guy! The key verse we can take away from this is…
Nehemiah 9:17 “You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”
Aren’t you glad that God is gracious towards you? Aren’t you so glad that God is abounding in love? I am! If you believe God is angry, if you believe the Master is harsh, if you went through things as a child or young adult that made you question the goodness of God, I’ve got news for you friend. GOD IS GOOD! God is full of goodness and we are living in a broken world. God can restore! Although you and I experience pain and sorrow, it doesn’t change God’s goodness! Sin makes things broken. God restores all things as we turn to Him. Back to our story.
God worked through Nehemiah and all the people to restore the walls that were broken down and restore the gates that were burned down. While I want you to mostly see yourself as Nehemiah in the story today, allow me to also say that the stone wall here can represent our lives. We too can be restored to our former beauty. That’s the beauty of the Gospel. Jesus restores us and not only removes the dirt and the grime but He fully restores us. God always sees the your potential!
In 2015 my wife and I bought a Century home that needed A LOT of renovation! Let’s just say it needed more than a little TLC. But I could tell from seeing it that it had so much potential. I wanted to restore it to it’s former glory. I could see the unique hand-painted top of the house with all it’s intricate shapes. The 11’ ceilings, many things just seems cool and special about this house. I was part time at church and to be honest, we didn’t even have the money but we felt like the Lord wanted us to take this risk, especially in light of a prophetic word from Jan Painter that was given to us about properties and investments. We took out a loan and got to
work. I was there 2 or 3 days a week and about 4 or 5 evenings each week working hard on renovating it. My father in law, Bob, was a priceless help. A few months later, it was done and it was beautiful!
What was at first, smelly, worn and tattered, had become beautiful, inviting and cozy. That house reminds me of what God does with us. He restores us. He restores His image in us - restoring us to our former glory if you will. God always cares about the problems in your life but also looks past them and sees your potential. He can restore you! Just like the wall around the city of Jerusalem, you may feel burnt out, destroyed, useless. But that’s not how God sees you! God sees what you CAN be and who you will be in Christ Jesus! You may say “I’ve blown it. I’ve made too many mistakes.” But God says “I’ve got this! I can restore you! I can set you on a new path. I can give you a new heart! I can do great things with you! YOU are precious and valuable to me!” Says the Lord! You might say “I’m too old. I’ve got too many scars.” God says to you “I can use those scars to tell stories of my faithfulness and my grace!” Today, be reminded that God can restore!