1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
What do you think are the “broken walls and burnt-out gates” of today?
Text your thoughts back to your team, then each team should post 1 reflection on the site
Notice the description of Jerusalem. The people were in trouble and were feeling a great sense of disgrace and reproach. The walls of the city were broken down. The gates had been burned with fire and were no longer usable.
If we take Jerusalem as a symbol of our own lives, there are many of us who fit this description. You look back on your life, and you see there are places where the walls have been broken down. There is no longer any ability left to resist destructive attacks. You have fallen victim to sinful habits that you now find difficult to break. That is the kind of ruin that is described here.
Perhaps you have gone along with the ways of the world. You have fallen into practices that the Bible says are wrong, and you know they are wrong. But you have difficulty stopping them. Perhaps your drift began innocently. You did not realize you were forming a habit, but now you no longer can stop it. Your defenses are gone. The walls of your city are broken down, and perhaps your gates are also burned. Gates are ways in and out. They are the way by which other people get to know you as you really are. Perhaps your gates have been destroyed by wrong habits.
Perhaps you were abused as a child. This phenomenon seems to be surfacing frequently in our day. The shame and the scarring of it have kept you a recluse. Your gates are burned, and nobody has access to you. Perhaps you were a victim of divorce or rape or of some bitter experience, and you feel betrayed or sabotaged.
You want to run and hide. No one can reach you. You have been so badly burned, you are now touchy and inaccessible. There are parts of your life you cannot talk about. You do not want anyone to know. You have a sense of great personal distress and are feeling reproach and disgrace. You have been scarred emotionally. No one may know about it. To others you appear to be a success. They think you are doing fine, but inwardly you know you are not. As you examine the walls and the gates of your life, you find much of it in ruins. How do you handle that?
That is the great question many face. But that is why the Scriptures are given to us. The men and women of the past have been through these same difficulties, and they have told us how to handle them. This great book of Nehemiah is one of the most helpful pictures we have of how to recover from broken lives. The steps that Nehemiah took covers seven chapters of this book. They are specific steps, orderly–and very effective! Taken in order they will lead to a full recovery of usefulness.
Are we ready and willing to allow God to expose our brokenness and lead us in paths of healing and usefulness?
Reflecting on today’s passage and the question of “what are the broken walls and burnt gates of today”, I believe those are symbolic to my personal life. The broken walls, to me, refers to the broken spiritual wall that I should have had up, but it is now broken and sinful habits, desires, and behaviors are slowly coming through and showing up since my guard ?♀️ is no longer there. I might have fallen away from God and into the world and I now have a difficult time stopping it. My defenses are gone (broken walls) and gates are burnt which allows ungodly and worldly ideals to get through without stopping.
The broken walls and burnt out gates for us today would probably be the relationships with those in RP that we have let go by the wayside due to Covid and being exiled to zoom for so long. Now for us who have resumed to in person meeting are we still missing people who we may have fallen out of touch with during this time?
I resonate with what you said. I know that Ray Stedman had done a marvelous job in the devotion to help us look to the brokenness within us. But I also remember friends who have loved ones passing away because of COVID, or friends who are no longer coming to RP because of one reason or another. Even looking at the other congregations which meet at Coastal. Some of them are no longer there in the aftermath of the pandemic. Broken walls and burnt gates are indications of a vulnerable community. And that’s what we are.
Walls and gates are built to protect things on the inside, from things on the outside. Verse 3 explains that “the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire”.
The wall of Jerusalem was extremely important because it provided protection from the outside world. However, the Jews were ultimately exiled for disobeying the Lord – which resulted in the destruction of the Temple (twice) and the wall of Jerusalem. This left them vulnerable and unprotected.
I thought of how when we disobey the Lord, our protection from the world breaks down – just like what happened to the Jews. With God being our Great Wall, nothing can get to us. So today, “broken walls and burnt-out gates” could be what happens when we go against God and disobey Him.
What are some purposes that walls serve? Walls keep things out/protect what/who’s inside. Walls also keep things in/provide a stable environment.
Walls also define borders and give identity to a place/people.
I look at the practice of sabbath as a wall..keeping out materialism, stress, and hurry (which kills your spiritual life)..and I know that I have allowed our practice of sabbath to erode over the past 2 months as we’ve endured the chaos of moving.
Someone in the group – Walls represent protection and gates represent order to me. When I don’t trust God to be my ultimate protector and my relationship with God is broken by my unconfessed sins and lack of trust in God Satan can attack and I’ll be more vulnerable to temptation. Only through repentance to Jesus I am able to enter into a personal relationship with God and have peace and not be ashamed of my sins bc of what Christ has done on the cross.
Today, we look to worldly things for protection and order-government, vaccine, self reliance, people like spouse or parents, bank account etc but when our “walls” and “gates” are rebuilt the way God intended to be we won’t be in “trouble” or be “ashamed” like the remnants. I pray that God would continuously remind us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
From Don’s post in our group:
“And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire,'” (Nehemiah 1:3). The Jews’ attempts to reestablish Jerusalem as a distinctively Jewish city, capable of withstanding its enemies assaults, had been thwarted, and the newly rebuilt temple was potentially in danger of being destroyed. It seems to me that the broken down walls and burnt out gates can be a picture of the church today, as well as being representative of my own brokenness.
Regarding the church, there are many false gospels that are widely taught and accepted, having no real Scriptural basis. It seems as though the main focus is on one’s self, and seeking God for what He can do for us, rather than for who He is,and what He has already done! This twisting of the gospel has a destructive effect on the church as a whole, as I know of many who have become disenchanted with her as a result, when promises of health and wealth in this life fall through.
Regarding my own brokenness, the broken down walls of my heart have all too often allowed sin to creep in and captivate me, leading to an idolatrous wandering away from my God. Yet, in His great mercy, He has always brought me back to Him.
Father, thank You for Your amazing faithfulness and unending love! I pray for Your church, that we would be a people that stands firm upon the truth of Your Word, and abides in Your love. Help me, Lord, to resist temptation, that I may be able to withstand the sin that so easily ensnares me, and “lead me in the way everlasting!”
The verses in today’s reading showcased the destruction and brokenness of Jerusalem’s walls, which could be understood as the destruction and brokenness in other aspects of our lives which aren’t necessarily physical. It could be the strain of temptation we may experience from day to day, shame that we feel, or the disunity of our nation. Sometimes, we can fear the exposure of our sin. Whatever it is, restoration is a way to build back what was lost, better than before. God is capable of helping us and making restoration a sweet victory.
There was a lot of great insight in the comments for today’s devotion. As I read today’s passage, I pictured all the imagery and sketches that were presented in the YouTube video yesterday. And one thing that stuck out to me was that small portion of the video that talked about how the walls of Jerusalem (metaphorically our spiritual health/bodies) are still up but on the inside, everything in destroyed and burnt. Sometime our broken walls may seem fine on the outside but can very much be scorched and left damaged on the inside because we try our best to keep those walls to protect us not only from sin but from shame and guilt. And even though we may still have walls up, the burnt out gates can represent how we still have weak points and allow sin to enter our borders, eventually hurting us from the inside out.
But I think the positive thing about having walls and gates is that when we are spiritually healthy and grounded, the Holy Spirit moves inside us to keep us strong, keep us fed, and keep us healthy. Just like a thriving city with its strong defenses and healthy village, working together to help their city prosper and spread wealth and happiness to others. And I believe we’ll see something similar to this and how repentance plays a role in all of this.
Someone in the group- A big takeaway for this chapter is on the “trouble and shame” of those who survived the exile as I feel that these issues are what hindered the survivors from rebuilding their broken walls and burnt-out gates. The foundation is still there and the province is still attributed to the Jews, but the issue is that they are in a state of “trouble and shame”. And I can relate to that as I feel the same level of defeat whenever I’m broken down to my foundation and I lose the progress I’ve worked so hard towards. And then seeing the place I was in versus where I fell to creates this great disparity that I don’t think I can bridge. This is what I relate to in terms of “trouble and shame” when it comes to “broken walls and burnt gates” as lost progress is also lost time and energy and having to recreate what was lost discourages me and brings me shame since I’m right back to where I started. But there’s a silver lining, I feel, that’s evident here and it’s that there are “survivors” and there is a leftover foundation of “broken walls and burnt-out gates”. So, though things are lost and the rebuilding process is bleak, things can still return to how they were, or maybe even better. I’m reminded of the Japanese technique of Kintsugi where broken pottery pieces are revived through the use of gold to meld the pieces back together to create something stronger and more beautiful. So, it’s sad to lose progress and be broken down, but it’s also uplifting when all is not lost and things can be rebuilt better and more beautiful.