They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned down.”     Nehemiah 1:3 HCSB

In this historical narrative, Nehemiah was an Israelite who had been exiled from his homeland of Jerusalem as many others had been. His brother brought word to him of the condition of Jerusalem. It troubled Nehemiah greatly; he wept, fasted, and prayed over the condition of the Jerusalem wall.

Our Scripture passage says the wall had been broken down and the gates of the wall had been burned down. There is no fixing that, total restoration is needed. God had sent prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah to warn the Israelites that their continued idol worship would lead to their captivity and exile into foreign, pagan lands. He also warned that their city would lie in ruin. It would face total devastation.

Sometimes things are broken so badly that they cannot be repaired. I am blessed to have two nephews who can fix just about anything between the two of them. They are both good with construction including electrical and plumbing. They are both good with computers and cars. One excels at computers, and one excels at cars. There are those times, however, when they run up on items that need to be replaced because it is beyond repair.

Our lives can seem that way at times. Have you ever felt hopeless? Have you ever felt like you’ve made such a big mess of things it just can’t be fixed? Or maybe it’s just me.

I’ve seen fast food chains totally demolish what seemed to be a perfectly good building and rebuild it from the ground up. It makes me wonder if there was something terribly wrong with that building. Then my mind goes to some type of insect infestation, and I will just stop here.

If you have a faulty foundation upon which you are building, there is a good chance that it will need to be rebuilt at some point. God gave Nehemiah the opportunity to return to his homeland and rebuild the wall and the gates, but he faced a great deal of opposition. Some plotted against him.

We must stay focused on what we are doing when we attempt to rebuild something. We will face opposition when we attempt to restore our relationship with our Lord and Savior. We must guard our hearts against the enemy’s attacks.

The book of Nehemiah is near and dear to my heart. It has brought restoration to relationships for me, but most importantly it helped me see how I needed to rebuild my relationship with the Lord. It helped me see that my half-hearted, so-called Christianity was not working. I needed to start fresh.

God’s word tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away and new things have come. Maybe you are beyond the point of repair but that’s okay, God can rebuild you and restore you.

Whatever has broken us is not mightier than the God we serve. There is no problem or situation that He can’t handle if we will only trust in Him.

If you are saved but are suffering, don’t despair. We know we will face trials and tribulations. God uses these to strengthen us (James 1:2-3).  We are told in 1 Peter 5:10, that the God of all grace, who calls us into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.

If you feel broken, don’t worry God can restore you and rebuild you. If you are suffering from a relationship that is broken and you feel it is beyond repair, know that if both parties are willing it can be rebuilt.

Know that God is in the restoration business. When it can’t be fixed, it can be rebuilt, just turn to Him and trust in Him. Give it all over to Him. If you need to be rebuilt, be willing to submit to that and you will be amazed at what He will do.

Have a great day!