After dark I went out through the Valley Gate, past the Jackal’s Well, and over to the Dung Gate to inspect the broken walls and burned gates.
Read Nehemiah 2:11-20. Do you ever find yourself looking for something that turns up to be right under your nose? Sometimes I wonder if it’s “a man thing” but I have seen at least one woman looking for the spectacles that were on top of her head!
Sometimes we find it difficult to see God’s vision too. I imagine that when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem and surveyed the state of the city and the destruction of its walls, he may have had moments when he doubted what God’s vision was.
What do Future Builders do when they can’t see God’s vision clearly? We ask for God’s wisdom. We quieten our hearts and our minds, and we wait before God. We might ask him a question: Is there anything you want to say to me? or Is there anything I need to know that I am not seeing?
I suspect Nehemiah’s decision to survey Jerusalem’s walls at night was for security and protection. But it also afforded him space to be quiet before God and to wait on him in the darkness and in a city that was sleeping.
If you need to see God’s vision for your life or the mission of your church more clearly then ask God to open your eyes. As you do so, you’ll soon discover what God wants to say to you about his vision.
THINK IT OVER
Think about the following:
What stops you from being still before God and seeing his vision more clearly?