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Construction engineers in Warsaw, Poland, recently built a railway tunnel that was too small for trains to fit. This expensive and embarrassing mistake was discovered by building inspectors, whose measurements revealed that the roof was too low for real trains to pass through. Apparently, the fiasco was the result of a lack of communication between workers building the tunnel and other workers laying new track.
Thankfully, Nehemiah and his team were better engineers than that! For them and for all the people, completing their construction project within God’s sovereign plan brought great joy. While rebuilding the temple had been an obvious priority upon the Jews’ return to their homeland, they had also been preoccupied with survival issues, such as setting up homes and farms and raising crops. They had faced opposition or at least nosy oversight from governor Tattenai and the local bureaucracy, until Darius’s confirmation of the original decree opened the door to finishing the temple rebuilding project (v. 13). To tell the truth, the people had also been guilty of putting their own interests first, ahead of God’s commands, and this had earned them a famine (see Haggai 1).
But now, under the leadership of Nehemiah and others, the rebuilt temple was at last completed, and the people responded with joy (v. 16). Finishing the new house of God symbolized to them that He was again present with His people and that the covenant relationship had been restored. They were once again His consecrated, set-apart people. God had decreed and arranged it all, from the Exile that was His judgment on their sin to the imperial decrees that enabled their homecoming. Human kings thought they held the power, but it was God who ordered events and changed hearts to accomplish His will. The dedication ceremony included worship, sacrifices, instruction from Scripture, reestablishment of the ministry of the priests and Levites, and a celebration of the Passover feast. “The Lord had filled them with joy” (v. 22).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Committing our plans and projects to the Lord and seeking His gift of joy in their completion is always a good idea. According to Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Encouragingly, “ ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ ” (Jer. 29:11). Our response: “My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices” (Acts 2:26).
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