Walls of Purpose

In the first two chapters of the book of Nehemiah, we are told that God placed a desire in Nehemiah's heart to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls. He was the cupbearer to king Artaxerxes of the Persian Empire. This meant that his job was very important and that his life would have been very comfortable. It wasn't easy to find a guy who actually enjoyed tasting the king's wine to see if it was poisoned. So, the fact that he would return to a place that he had little authority (except that which the king would give him in a letter), and enter a venture that was sure by human opinions to fail, was nothing short of a God-given task in deed.
I understand why Nehemiah would want to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls around the city of his God. In Nehemiah's time, cities without walls were laughed at. Cities without walls were treated as having little consequence in the lives of their neighbors and in the affairs of the region in which they lay. So, for Nehemiah to attend to this project was akin to us having the President of the United States visit our town and give us a commendation for volunteerism, or charity work, or creating jobs for our country. It was a statement of love for his city and an acknowledgement that he saw it as a great city, not the ruin that it was.
But, God doesn't look on the outside of things to determine the worth that they hold. So why would he care about Jerusalem's walls? Why would he place it on Nehemiah's heart to return and rebuild them? Why was this so important?
I believe it was the mission of God in action that caused God to care so much. It was the fact that God had ordained that the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world would come through those very walls! God promised Abraham that he would bless all the nations of the world through Israel. He had brought them back from captivity so he could do just that. And now, he was restoring the beauty and grandeur of HIS city so that all nations would recognize God's power and authority over all created things; even kings! These walls were not for Nehemiah, nor for Ezra, nor for the Persian Empire to brag about! These walls were for Israel to brag on their God about! God was restoring the credentials of Israel so that the world could look past the city to the God of the city.
Does God care about the walls in your life? If they have a greater purpose to bring attention to God and the good news of Christ, then he always cares! If we will submit the use of our walls to him, then we can expect him to help us build, or rebuild them every time. God loves us and wants to build walls for us anyway, but the real promise comes as we see HIS purpose for our walls!