Truth in the Night

I went to Jerusalem…I set out during the night…then I said to them…

(excerpts from Nehemiah 2:11-18)

Nehemiah had become a wise man by the time he entered Jerusalem that day. His was a wisdom honed by focus on the One True God who got him there. Contained in that wisdom was a treasure—the mission God had entrusted to him. 

Nehemiah didn’t know these inhabitants of Jerusalem; didn’t yet know how trustworthy they were; didn’t know how they would handle treasure.

Therefore, upon arrival he waited three days. Then he started out with a few men in the dark of night. 

Before the invention of electricity, “divided sleep” was the norm. People would sleep from sundown until the wee morning hours. Then they would have a middle-of-the-night time of wakefulness. Believers would spend that time communing with God. Following that they would sleep again until the sun woke them. 

It is during such uninterrupted quiet communion that we can face the truth about ourselves, our circumstances, our relationships, our world. Being awake in the night with only our thoughts for company is a bad idea. Having God for company during that time is a very good idea.

Nehemiah used the middle-of-the-night time to survey the broken-down walls and the burned-down gates of Jerusalem. No doubt he communed with God as he did so.  We wonder—did he lament some more? Was he preoccupied?  Excited? Anxious?

When we survey our internal or external “broken down walls” and “burned down gates,” we may respond in a jumble of ways. All will be respected because we are facing truth, and as we know, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

When Nehemiah’s survey was completed and he knew the truth of the situation for himself, he was free to share his treasure—his mission--with the others. It is likely they had lived in and with this rubble for so long they no longer had eyes to see it or ears to hear their too-familiar gnawing inner dialogue of shame. 

But when they got the whiff of hope, when they got the message this was God’s doing and that even the king was on board, they said What are we waiting for?  “So they began this good work” (Nehemiah 2:18b).

Abba, we want to know the truth that will set us free. Do teach us to be still and look with and listen to You to discern what broken down walls and burned down gates linger in and around us. And then may we say, “What are we waiting for?” and get to work re-building with You.

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.