November 5

“By the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were effectually cured of the worship of graven images. During the centuries that followed, they suffered from the oppression of heathen foes, until the conviction became fixed that their prosperity depended upon their obedience to the law of God. But with too many of the people obedience was not prompted by love. The motive was selfish. They rendered outward service to God as the means of attaining to national greatness. They did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation to idolatry. In the instruction given through Moses, God had placed restrictions upon their association with idolaters; but this teaching had been misinterpreted. It was intended to prevent them from conforming to the practices of the heathen. But it was used to build up a wall of separation between Israel and all other nations. The Jews looked upon Jerusalem as their heaven, and they were actually jealous lest the Lord should show mercy to the Gentiles.”

           Desire of Ages, page 28  from the chapter, 'The chosen people'

     Rebuild the walls, is the headline behind our church strategy. The aim is to find out if we are doing God’s will in our own lives and in our church lives. We aren’t to just examine, if there is re-building to be done we should be doing that.

     The people of Judah went to Babylon and saw so much idol worship there that they realised where they had gone wrong. They rebuilt their walls. Practices were changed.

     Over the years, not too many years, they allowed other problems to creep into their faith. Their motivation to obey God was changed. They should have obeyed from an attitude of love. They also realised that the wonderful guidance God offered them was a precious thing. Sadly, they took God’s precious teachings and hid them away rather than shared them.

     Their rebuilt walls crumbled and needed rebuilding.

     We can’t say that we are perfect. We do find ourselves slipping a little and doing things our own way. We would never say that we have slipped into idolatry. We would never think that our motives have become impure. We would not imagine that we have become so defensive of our faith that we stop sharing the great blessings God has for us and the people around us.

     Yet our walls do need an examination from time to time.

     Am I too selfish? Do I give glory to God? Does personal worship fit into my life? Do I share my faith? Do I obey God with the right motives?

     Something for you to think about today is this. Do you have walls in your life which mean that you have even a slightly distorted view of God? Talk to your prayer partner about your own walls that might need rebuilding.