Where Do You Work?

Photo Credit: Melissa Wall

“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.’ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” Nehemiah 2: 17- 18 (NIV)

In this first person account found in the Old Testament, Nehemiah described how the Israelites returning from exile began to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that had lain in lonely ruin every since the sacking of the city by the Babylonians in 582 B.C.

The vision, the imperial favor, the strategy, the supplies – all these came from the hand of Almighty God to be channeled through Nehemiah for this great achievement. Now it was time for the people to build.  Nehemiah devoted an entire chapter of his narrative to a detailed description of how and where the wall construction was done.  His report also included who did it; recording each leader’s name – over forty men who had many willing helpers from their tribe, clan, group, or city to rebuild a section.

This was a massive project, with a huge workforce, yet its focus was extremely personal: “Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah, son of Maaseiah…made repairs beside his house.” Nehemiah 3:23 (NIV).

Do you see the principle here? I work at what God calls me to do; you invest in your assignment. Each specific job and its location are right in front of us.  Although at times we must transition to new work, much of the time, we are already precisely where we are meant to be – to live, to work, and to serve God.

Let’s open our eyes and look around with fresh vision to see our own section of the wall.