Day 21: Stand and Rebuild
“Those from among you will
rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
Are you a repairer of the breach? Will you raise up the age-old foundations? What exactly does it mean to be a repairer of the breach?
Websters defines breach as a gap in the wall made by battering. It is the place where the enemy has broken through the city wall and entered to reek havoc.
Early on, when the Israelites escaped slavery in Egypt and found themselves rebelling against God’s plan for their life in a place called the desert, Moses stepped in on their behalf.
What had crumbled was Israel’s trust in God. They literally despised the pleasant land ahead of them and did not believe God’s word to them. They spent the day in their tents grumbling and complaining – relationship was breached, and here is what Moses did…
“Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them.”
Psalm 106:23
Moses stood in the place, in the gap, in the breach, where everything had fallen apart. Rebellion had broken relationship. Hopelessness had more power than promise. The hope of new beginnings became overcast by a shadow of circumstances that said this is never going to happen. Somehow bondage was more comfortable that belief.
The enemy had pulled out the foundation stones that God had set, he battered their hope, the walls came down, and the enemy of their future rushed in. And yet Moses chose to stand in the breach and fight for the rebellious heart of his people.
“Paths that were once overrun by the whispered lies of enemy thieves are now turned to places of peace and rest.”
As you move toward wholeness and restoration, is there someone you know whose life has been breached by the siege of the enemy? Is there someone you know battered by life? Where is the breach you can stand in on someone’s behalf? How can you help someone else rebuild the broken down wall? What story from your life can you share that would give hope?
ACTION: Stand in the breach.
Mabye today’s action is found in the last part of this verse – to be a restorer of the paths to dwell in. These are not paths upon which they dwelt, but ones which lead to their homes – the places they dwelt.
The idea here is to restore the pathways of life so there is never again access for robbers and thieves. Paths that were once overrun by the whispered lies of enemy thieves are now turned to places of peace and rest.
The way in which you live your life and regulate your heart, mind, and emotions is such that the access areas the enemy used to breach your world have been shut off. One commentator put it this way, the walls are so high no robber could ever enter.
The ways in which you walk and the familiar pathways that lead to life must be restored, protected, and clear. Where you choose to dwell is as important as how you get to where you dwell. My pathway to life is not paved with a political view, a financial view, a prestigious way, for me it must be a spiritual way that is illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit.
“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, ‘Be gone!” Isaiah 30:20-22