Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” (Nehemiah 2:17 ESV)
Jerusalem had been destroyed and lying in ruins for over 125 years. The people Nehemiah was talking to here had been living in the rubble heap that was Jerusalem for ten years or more. Why then, was it necessary for him to tell them to look at the “ruins” and start building the wall? It was because the Israelites that were living there had become callous to their surroundings. Day after day they became numb to walking over rubble and not having gates to protect them. Eventually, this literally broken city became comfortable and home to them.
Unfortunately, this same destruction can become comfortable in our lives today. Just as the Israelites walked by the ruins of their once magnificent city without a blink of an eye, we can do the same with small persistent sins in our lives. Have you ever seen a “small” sin in your life slowly and gradually turn into a “big” one? Or, maybe you have had a sin in your life that has been there so long that it just feels “normal” now. That is what life was like for the Israelites. This is also what our spiritual life is like when we become callous to God and the way He desires for us to live.
When our hearts are calloused to God, it makes it more difficult to discern His voice and leading. This is why we must continually ask God to show us areas in our life that he desires to rebuild, restore, and make right with him. God does not want us to live in sin, numb to the ruins around us. He wants to set us free!
Have you grown callous to the “ruins” of sin in your life?
Pastor Mike Says 