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April 09 the wall is broken down They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire”. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Neh 1:3-4 We all know the story of Nehemiah. If you don’t, you should take the opportunity to read this great book! So many wonderful principles of life embedded in the story of this man of God. I won’t use this space today to recount his exploits but I do want to focus on the above passage.
Nehemiah was a man who had an esteemed position in a foreign land. He was cup-bearer to the king! Which meant that the king trusted Nehemiah with his life. However, when Nehemiah heard of his homeland’s state of affairs, he despaired. This is a passage that continues to spur me on in my work of medical missions in my homeland.  Walls are meant to surround and protect a nation, a people, a city. Its purpose is to keep out anything that may harm, anything that may corrupt, anything that may destroy those within its jurisdiction. As I have been working with HIV/AIDS, I have witnessed the collapse of the wall of morality in the cities I have worked in in SE Asia. Prostitution is rife, iv drug use though outlawed is rampant, sex among teens and outside of marriage is considered “normal”. Promiscuity is a badge of honor. The law of “you do what you want, I do what I want” prevails. There is no standard, objective moral law that stands to guide the people. The wall is broken down. The gates have been burned with fire. Many who are reading this blog live in a comfortable and secure country like Australia, USA, New Zealand, or wherever you may be. We live in comfort. Comfort desensitises us, numbs us, separates us from the hurts of those around us. We always see the tragedies around the world on our TV screens. We gasp. We are shocked. But only for a moment. After the TV is turned off, we resume our normal lives. Forgetting the suffering of those in war-torn Iraq, starving in Africa, depression among farmers in drought-struck areas, etc… How do you respond to the tragedies around us? Think of the millions of children around the world dying of starvation and lack of treatment for something as simple as diarrhoea. Think of our neighbour East Timor who continually suffer civil unrest and uncertainties in their government. Think of the kidnappings for prostitution and slave trades STILL happening around the world. Think of daily human right abuses in governments vehemently denying its existence. I don’t want to just talk about other countries. Let's look at Australia. How about the disgrace of the healthcare system for Aborigines (a third world system in a 1st world country) here? How about the homeless in our cities? How about the slaughter of babies under the guise of “legal abortion”? I could go on and on. What is happening in your “homeland” today? What is your response? Do you just gasp for a second and then shrug your shoulders and say “what can one person do?” And so your conscience seems to be cleared of all responsibilities and life just goes on. Comfortable. Happy. Blissfully ignorant. Unwilling to lift even a finger to help. Or do we mourn as Nehemiah mourned? Weeping, crying in despair for his own people (even thousands of miles away). We need to WAKE UP!!! Don’t live a life that has dulled senses to the needs around us. Come on people... We need to regain our personal ownership of our homeland! We need to be motivated to fight injustice, immorality! To defend God’s laws, His name, His honour, His compassion for His people!!! Comments (44)
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