Tuesday, August 5th

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Nehemiah 7:1-3
After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.”

A friend who coached one of my sons travel baseball teams years ago used to like to say to the boys when they were cleaning up the dugout after a game, “Leave it better than you found it!” What he meant, of course, was that he wanted the boys to not only clean up their own gear and pick up any empty Gatorade bottles they had tossed in the dugout, but also to scour the whole area for trash so that the next group would arrive and find a clean ball field.

“Leave it better than you found it.”

That’s a pretty good standard to apply to many situations when you think about it. And, in his own way, that’s what Nehemiah is doing here in chapter 7.

I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.”

It’s easy to miss what is going on here because we are so far removed from that time and culture. Historians tell us that the gates of an ancient city were usually opened early in the morning, to allow the day’s commerce to begin, and then closed at sunset, to keep the city safe. Here Nehemiah suggests the added security measures of opening the gates later and closing them earlier. He is simply taking extra precautions because he knows that even though the walls and gates have been rebuilt, their enemies have not gone away.

I think Nehemiah is making sure that he “leaves it better than he found it.” He is preparing to hand over leadership to Hanani and Hananiah and he wants to do everything he can to help them be successful in their task. He has rebuilt the wall of the city but he now focuses on leaving a leadership infrastructure that will ensure the long term survival of the people make Jerusalem their home.

I think there’s a lesson for us as the church in all of this. Our church family today is made up of roughly 4,000 men, women and children. But while we are the FBCG church family today, not one of us was here in 1894 when the church was founded! We have inherited this ministry from those who have gone before, and someday we will also pass it on to those who come after us.

The question is, will we leave it better than we found it? Like Nehemiah, will we long for God’s best for his people? Will we carefully inspect the walls and gates of the church to see where they may need to be strengthened? Will we each be willing to do our part to pray and serve and give so that, like ancient Jerusalem, the church will be able to stand against the enemy? And, when the time comes, will we hand the leadership baton to the next generation in a way that will encourage their future success?

Nehemiah left Jerusalem better than he found it; may we do the same!

Pastor Brian Coffey