Sat.’s Devo - Rebuilding the Walls

Read: Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4
Nehemiah was written 34 years after Ezra and continued the story. Nehemiah means “I will comfort my people”. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king Artaxerses which means that he tasted every thing he drank to make sure it was not poisonous. He also served as governor to Judea and his heart was in Jerusalem. He had traveled there with Ezra but had to return to serve the king. He was always seeking news of how his people were doing in Jerusalem so when he found that the wall had been torn down and the gates set afire, he was heartbroken. He sat in mourning, fasting and praying for days.
In the second chapter, it was the month of Nisan. That is the month of Passover. Nehemiah presented the wine to the king at the same time that Jesus will later present his blood to his Father - the King. It also lets us know that the queen was sitting next to the king. She stands for the church, seated at the right hand of the Father from eternity.
Nehemiah asked for letters so he could have safety in the journey and so the keeper of the forest would give him timber for the walls and gates. The king gladly granted everything he asked. God owns everything on this earth and if we are building his temple, all his resources are at our bidding.
Of course, the enemy was not happy to hear that someone was there to help the Israelites. One of them was Sanballat, which means “hatred in secret”. He wasn’t too secret about his opinion. He laughed and scorned their idea to rebuild and accused them of rebelling against the king.
The high priest rose up with his priests and repaired the first part - the sheep gate. That is exactly what our High Priest, Jesus did for us. He became the door that we, the sheep could enter in. His example inspired others to build their section of the wall and gates. Jesus is our example and we labor with him to rebuild his kingdom on earth.
I read I Corinthians 7:1 and in the NIV it says it is good for a man not to marry, which I knew had to be wrong. ( How else would the human race keep going?) So I read it in the KJV and it says, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” When I looked up the word “touch” it means inappropriately. That makes much more sense. If your don’t open the door, you can’t go through it.
Marriage is suppose to be a picture of union with Christ. We give up everything to honor him and live for him. We show that in the way we honor our husbands. If we are married or not, we should do everything to glorify God. We are all married to Christ.
Lord, we give you our bodies to honor you in everything we do.