Then I said to them,
“You see the trouble WE are in:
Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.
Come, let US rebuild the wall of Jerusalem,
and WE will no longer be in disgrace.”
Nehemiah 2:17
Nehemiah was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. (Nehemiah 1:11) He was living hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, in the citadel of Susa. He asked about Jerusalem. When he heard how bad things were there, he wept and mourned and fasted and prayed. (Nehemiah 1:4)
He could have stayed in the citadel. He could have said, “Jerusalem is not my problem. God has blessed me here. I will just stay here and pray.” But he didn’t. He got up and went to Jerusalem. He was there three days. When he finally told the leaders and others why he was there he could have said, “You see the trouble YOU are in.” He could have said, “Go, YOU rebuild the wall…” He could have said, “If you do, YOU will no longer be in disgrace.” But instead Nehemiah related to his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. He said, “WE”, “let US”, and “WE”. He knew God called him to be a part of what God wanted to do in Jerusalem.
The REACHING BEYOND CAMPAIGN is primarily about building more space for the youth of our community and church to come to find Jesus and find hope – but our whole church will benefit from the addition. Still, some might be tempted to say, “This isn’t about us. This is about the youth.”
If that is how you feel, can I encourage you to rethink that? Would you pray and ask God to help you have a heart that sees this as something he has called “US” all to do? Because I as your pastor, like Nehemiah, feel compelled to say, “Come, let us” build this addition for God’s glory and for lives to be transformed through loving relationships with God, with each other and with those who don’t know Jesus yet!
