and so-and-so and so-and-so and YOU

BY Jessi Connolly

Text: Nehemiah 3:1-32, John 9:1-41, Acts 3:1-26, Ephesians 4:16

This is the good part. Don’t glaze over it. If you’ve spent any length of time in the Old Testament, you know that sometimes there are just chunks of names and names and names. You can skip today’s passage, you can skim for baby names for your pregnant friend, or you can read between the lines and do a little life application.

Every great and powerful move of God, from the rebuilding of walls to the planting of churches to the leading of a children’s Bible study, comes down to a section like this. The people have to get up, stop talking and vision casting, and start putting beams down. They have to walk over to their neighbor’s house. They have to move to that city where they know God is calling them. Download the adoptive parent packet. Write the email. Buy the snacks. Do the work.

And it isn’t always beautiful or glamorous or filled with spiritual fervor and fluffy feelings, but it is so very, very good and necessary to get the wall built. Ephesians 4:16 reminds us that every joint in this body of Christ is equipped for the work it must do, and doing it properly makes the body grow.

Can I tell you a little secret about one of these builders that may shed some light for us? Did you notice Shallum, in verse 15? He’s just one of the dozens listed, but he repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah. No biggie, right? Well, it is actually a huge deal. It’s one man, sacrificing his time and effort to rebuild his community because of the larger vision at stake. But there’s more to the story there.

In John 9, they’re calling this pool “Siloam,” but don’t be confused – it’s the very same one. This time, we’re there hundreds of years later with Jesus – as He heals a blind man, declaring His divinity in miracle form. Then in Acts 3, in the very same place, Peter heals a man who has never walked. THIS is an important place, right?

Could it be that the section of the wall God has given you is important for your sanctification and His Glory today, but that He might also have an eternal plan for the work you’re doing? What if your simple job is the setting for miraculous, Kingdom-size work for generations to come? I’m willing to bet, in one way or another, it absolutely is.