In about 445 bc, Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. Since the city’s destruction in 586 bc, 140 years earlier, it had remained mostly uninhabitable (Neh. 7:4). Now, with Nehemiah’s encouragement, people from other Judean towns joined in to repair the city walls. There was immediate opposition by those who did not want Jerusalem to prosper. Through ridicule, insult, and outright aggression they tried to stop the work. In response, the builders prayed and continued building.

The verse above, though, raised a different sort of danger. It is one we all face. Literally 140 years’ worth of rubbish had to be removed if the project would continue. The workers said to themselves, “There is so much junk here that we will never be able to build anything.”

Are you saying to yourself, “There is so much damage from the past that I just can’t move forward”? Maybe this last year really took a lot out of you. Or maybe you have been dealing for years with other kinds of damage, and now you think of yourself, others, and even God in a way that is filled with doubt.

Such damage is indeed real. It was real for Nehemiah’s builders. They were not exaggerating about how much garbage was around. But it was time to stop letting that garbage interfere with their progress. It was going to be exhausting work—building always is. But the builders persevered, focusing on God and on one another (4:14). They saw that the rubbish of the past did not have the right to keep Jerusalem from becoming what God intended it to be.

The rubbish of your past does not have the right to stop God from strengthening you to become what He has always wanted you to be. It is going to be exhausting work—building always is. But keep building.