Why I protect my own “walls” first.
There are some days, I wake up and say, “I’m through blogging. That’s it. It’s too much work. There’s no payback. And the worst part? I don’t always practice what I preach”.
Blogging is hard work. At least it is for me. I take it seriously. I pray every day that God will honor my words and that they will help others. Some days I search for the right words or the right passage of scripture to focus on.
And other days it just falls into my lap. Like today.
I’m reading Nehemiah for my old testament portion. It’s been a year since I read Nehemiah and I had forgotten how much I love this book. I find the rebuilding of the wall and the strategy for the work so interesting and I believe it gives us a blueprint as to how to lead our lives.
I’ve not been doing so good with this lately. I’ve forgotten that the only portion of my “wall” I need to be concerned about is my particular part. That’s how the Israelites rebuilt the wall. Each family rebuilt the portion in front of their own house, not their neighbors, their own house. But while they were building, they also protected themselves by having someone armed and on guard watching for possible attacks as there were many who didn’t want the wall rebuilt. (Doesn’t sound too different from today’s Middle Easts conflicts, does it?)
Then my New Testament reading is in Luke and today I read about the temptation of Jesus. At the end of Jesus’s temptation, the scriptures say that satan left for awhile, for an opportune time to attack again. (I don’t capitalize the name of satan, as I feel it assigns him too much respect.)
Isn’t it great how these two portions of Scripture support each other?
In both portions, we are told that satan is always prowling, waiting to attack us, even when we are unaware of his presence.
So what should we do?
Well, according to these portions of Nehemiah and Luke, we do a few things.
First, we remind ourselves that just because things are good now, doesn’t mean satan has backed off. He’s just lurking around waiting for our unarmed weak moments. And we are unarmed when we ignore our daily time of prayer and Bible study. That is our “armor”.
Secondly, we are to refute satan with God’s word when he does attack, which, of course, circles back to prayer and Bible study.
We can refute satan if we have no ammunition.
Third, we are to repair ourselves first, our own weak wall. We become vulnerable when we’re always trying to solve other people’s problems, when we buy into their drama too much. Obviously, I don’t mean we don’t help others as much as we can. But we all know, or at least we should, that we can’t help anyone who won’t help themselves. It only gets us upset and angry. And when we’re upset and angry, we are very vulnerable to satan’s attacks.
I’ve done pretty good with the first two, not so much with the last one but I’m getting much better. I’m working hard at keeping my equilibrium.
I’m going to concentrate on my own “wall” for now. I’ve done all I can do where other people are concerned. This is where faith steps in and reminds me that while I’ve done all I can, God may well have just begun.
Hope this helps you today as you fight your own battles today and defend your own wall.
God bless and have a good one.
