Counselor’s Corner - September 6, 2013
“Game Day” by Susan Causey
Last week was the first football
game of the season and the first to be played on FPD’s new George Johnson
Stadium and Austin Childers Field! Boy, were we pumped. For the past couple of
weeks things have been really humming. We watched from a far as the stadium
went up. Bricklayers came to build the brick wall around the bottom of the
bleachers. There were probably 8-10 men each with his own pallet of bricks and
concrete and trowel. They were lined up ready to stack the bricks. It reminded
me of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem!
As told in
Nehemiah 2, each worker was given a specific section of the wall to rebuild.
They worked side by side for the common goal of giving protection to the holy
city. Matthew Henry’s commentary describes it this way;
The work
was divided, so that everyone might know what he had to do, and mind it, with a
desire to excel; yet without contention, or separate interests. No strife
appears among them, but which should do most for the public good. Every
Israelite should lend a hand toward the building up of Jerusalem. Let not
nobles think anything below them, by which they may advance the good of their
country… When a general good work is to be done, each should apply himself to
that part which is within his reach. If everyone will sweep before his own
door, the street will be clean; if everyone will mend one, we shall all be
mended. Some that had first done helped their fellows. The walls of Jerusalem,
in heaps of rubbish, represent the desperate state of the world around, while
the number and malice of those who hindered the building, give some faint idea
of the enemies we have to contend with, while executing the work of God. Everyone
must begin at home; for it is by getting the work of God advanced in our own
souls that we shall best contribute to the good of the church of Christ. May
the Lord thus stir up the hearts of his people, to lay aside their petty
disputes, and to disregard their worldly interests, compared with building the
walls of Jerusalem, and defending the cause of truth and godliness against the
assaults of avowed enemies.*
What a beautiful
picture of team work with each person focusing on his or her job using the gifts
within his own sphere of responsibility which God has given us to bring Him
glory.
Just as
enthusiastically and as diligently as we prepared for our first football game,
let’s set our hearts and minds to prepare for the ultimate game day when we shall
meet the Lord!
*http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/Neh/Rebuilding-Walls-Jerusalem
