Can You Hear It?

“And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away” (Nehemiah 12:43).

The story of how God used Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the people to obedience is instructive for us in many ways. Throughout the process of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah proved himself to be a man of courage, determination, passion and faith. He was the right man, at the right time, for the right job. Under his leadership, the people of Israel regained their sense of God’s purposes for them as they followed Nehemiah’s leadership and rebuilt the walls.

Once the wall was completed and their enemies thwarted, Nehemiah dedicated the walls to the Lord. This was no small accomplishment and was possible only as God enabled them and as Nehemiah led them. The result of their accomplishment is recorded in the verse cited above. Their joy was so outrageous that the sound of joy was “heard far away.” 

Now on the surface, it appears that their joy was based solely on the completion of the walls. But I wonder if there was more to it than that. Yes of course they were joyful that their task was completed, but the completion of the task proves something equally important. You see, God blesses his people when they follow his designated leaders. That is to say that God leads through his leaders; thus when God’s people follow God’s leaders, the result is joy. In that light, I believe part of their joy was due to the fact that they faithfully followed Nehemiah’s leadership. 

With that observation in mind, the question arises, “How does that apply for us in our day?” Well, one of the things I’ve come to see, particularly in the context of the church, is that God blesses his people proportionally to the degree to which they submit to the leaders God places in their midst. I speak to far too many people who have had difficult church experiences somewhere in their past. And although I am not in a position to judge, in many instances the fault lies with the leader and/or the people. Churches seldom struggle due to outside influences. Rather, churches struggle because they do not have the right leader, or else the people are unwilling to follow. 

What’s apparent in Nehemiah’s story is that God blessed the people because he was God’s chosen leader and the people followed faithfully. In that light, I must tell you that you as a congregation have been faithfully submissive to the leaders God has placed in our midst. It is no small blessing to be part of a local church characterized by God’s leaders leading God’s people. I believe that what we are experiencing in our midst is quite similar to the people in Nehemiah’s day, with one minor difference. “And the joy of [Wausau Alliance Church] was heard far away.”