Bolt Up the Dung!

Our Pastor is currently doing a series on Nehemiah. We have been looking at the various gates that are in need of repair and it’s been quite interesting.

For example the “Sheep Gate” represents our salvation. The “Fish Gate” is making disciples. The “Old Gate” represents the Ancient path’s of wisdom – the Word of God. The “Valley Gate” is the gate of pressure or the gate of trials.

Then we come to the Dung Gate. The Hebrew word for Dung is ashpoth which means ash heap, refuse heap, dung-hill. Basically it’s the gate used to take out trash in the city.

We read about the Dung Gate in Neh 3:14 where it says “The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He rebuilt it and put its doors and bolts and bars in place.” (NIV)

This is so fascinating! Don’t you just love to be in the Word of God? You may be thinking “why is she getting so excited about TRASH for goodness sake” but please allow me to share my overwhelming excitement!

You see when our walls are in pieces and our life crumbles around us then we must allow God to rebuild the wall. The rebuilding process begins with going back to the cross (Sheep Gate). Go back and kneel before the cross and remember the perfect Lamb of God that was sacrificed for your sins. Remember your salvation. You were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Then go and share your salvation with others. (Fish Gate). Be in the Word of God. Hunger and thirst after the Word of God. (Old Gate)

Once you allow the word to speak to your heart, God will begin to squeeze you. Trials will come in order to reveal to you those places in your heart that need to be rid of. (Valley Gate)

When God, through trials, sorrow and pain, squeezes out the TRASH of our hearts we MUST then get rid of it. We can not just allow it to stay in our hearts to rot and begin to smell of death and decay.

It must be taken out through the Dung Gate. It must be thrown out of our hearts and our life. Then…

Oh this is so exciting! I just LOVED this picture God has given us in His word!!

Once we throw out the dung we must bolt the door shut. Nehemiah says that Malkijah rebuilt the gate and “put its doors and bolts and bars in place.” 

The gate had bolts and bars on it! But why? So that when God has squeezed the YUCK out of our hearts and the Dung has been thrown out we can lock the gate behind us.

It is finished. Forgiveness has been sought. Grace applied. We no longer need to feel the weight of the sin and shame.

But so often we do. Why? Could it be that as we allow God to squeeze the trash out of our hearts we leave the gate open to the Dung Gate. We leave it open for the stench and the filth to follow us.

It’s so important to shut the gate and bolt it closed. The Dung of our hearts is taken care of and the guilt and shame no longer needs to follow you.

Isn’t that cool? Once we have confessed our sin, asked for God’s forgiveness we can shut the door and bolt it locked and FOREVER be done with it.

Today I am joining….

Are Your Walls in Ruin?

Sunday our Pastor began a series on the book of Nehemiah and I have been “chewing” on it ever since. Before I get to writing though I must confess that my first thought was “really Lord? Nehemiah…AGAIN?” I have been in this book probably more in the last 10 years than any other book! And just 2 years ago I studied it inductively! So what more is there to show me…

I do LOVE His Word…It is always new.  He always has a fresh word.

In the past as I’ve studied Nehemiah it’s been in the context of ministry and building up the “spiritual walls” of our communities of our churches and our cities.

But this time our Pastor, as he often does, took us to our hearts. He wanted us to evaluate our own spiritual walls. The walls of our heart. Not the walls we build because of hurt or to keep other’s out but the walls that are build on truth. The walls that surround our hearts in order to keep SIN out.

Are your walls firmly built on truth? Do you spend time with God daily in prayer?

Are there parts of your walls that are crumbling, or have grown weak from neglect?

As I sat there listening, especially in light of what had just happened on the way to church, I realized there are parts of my wall that needs some tending too.

What I have realized, and our pastor impressed upon us, is that we can not possibly build the walls around our communities until we have first allowed God to rebuild us. I don’t mean we have to be perfect and there can’t be any weaknesses at all, but we do need to be aware of the areas that are weak.

We need to be willing to allow God to continue exposing the cracks in our foundations and our walls and this allow Him to rebuild or re-enforce them.

I want to spend time this week really seeking God and asking Him to show me the areas of weakness. Those areas of my heart that are in danger of completely crumbling because they have been neglected.

How about you? Are you willing? Do you have parts of your wall that are crumbling? Lets us pray together for spiritual walls to build on the foundations of truth. The truth of God’s word.

Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit. Prov 25:28