In the figurative sense, everyone is building walls in their lives. They are also pulling down some of them. To live as a Christian, we need to make sure that we are building the right walls and that we destroying the walls that are supposed to be destroyed. If you have no idea what you are doing in your life, chances are, you are destroying your own fortresses while giving a helping hand to your enemy’s territory. That’s one of the worst things you can do to yourself.

In Joshua 6, the Israelites had to conquer Jericho. In doing so, they had to march around the city a total of 13 times! 

20 So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed.

In this scripture, we find that you can’t really destroy the walls of sin and bondage by yourself. You have to leave at God’s feet. Good works can’t help you and neither will your own strength. You have to trust God. You can’t save yourself. Religious people tend to make their beliefs all about themselves, but its not. It’s about Jesus! He saved everyone, not you. You haven’t saved yourself by living a righteous life. You are obeying God for the sake of your own salvation and livelihood. Living holy doesn’t do God a favour, it draws you closer to your life source. Living Holy helps you. So trust in God to be holy, your own actions won’t help. Your actions don’t make you Holy. God’s Holiness in you gives you the desire to make the right decisions. Strange enough, after they conquered Jericho, Joshua pronounced a curse over it.

26 At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath:

“Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up

and rebuilds this city, Jericho;

at the cost of his firstborn

he will lay its foundations;

at the cost of his youngest

he will set up its gates.”

Are you rebuilding the walls that God destroyed for you? Are you involved in the things that Jesus set you free from? Are you involved in the dark when God has brought you into the light? 

Are you not practically calling a curse over yourself?

1 Kings 16:34

In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

Hiel decided to rebuild Jericho which must have been a ridiculous move to make. He lost two of his sons because of the curse. How many of us are trying to throw a curse over our lives? Jesus broke the chains and broke the curse but we still want to play with it. Don’t go back to your sin. Don’t go back to the past that God set you free from. It doesn’t mean that you will lose your children. It means that whatever you were planning might be destroyed or delayed. In ancient times, sons represented prosperity and wealth. It was the pride of every man. You could not only lose your purpose but lose track of it. So you have to be careful about what you do. We will speak more about the consequences of building the wrong walls further on.

If you fast track through time, you will come across the time of Solomon. He had to build the temple of the Lord. It took him 7 years to build it. That tells us something. It is far easier to destroy a wall than to build one. So be careful what you use your time for. It could cause you to lose more time. Time is precious. When you could be accomplishing something great for Jesus, sin might take that time for recovery from the damage it causes. Watch out!

The temple had a great design. It was made out of the best materials and had the most expensive labour. That is the walls of righteousness. The best of everything. It is truly expensive. It’s worth the time because it is for God. If you build for people, you are probably building a pillar of salt. Look towards Jesus, don’t look back.

However, after Solomon died and other kings came around, they started to worship other gods. Abandoning God caused other nations to lay siege to Jerusalem. When the Glory of God departed from the temple, other nations came and destroyed the temple. They set it on fire and stole all of the articles.

Ezra and Nehemiah were two radical Israelites who decided to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The walls had holes and were practically in pieces. It was much more difficult to build the walls now than it was back then because of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded them. When you are building the walls of righteousness and you abandon it, to get back to it is much more difficult. Nevertheless, Ezra and Nehemiah managed to complete the walls. 

Ezra 3:12

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.

As much as the walls were completed, the Levite priest who had seen the temple at its original condition mourned. It just wasn’t the same. There were many differences. If you abandon your calling for worldly things, getting back to it just won’t be the same again. It’s like marriage, after an affair there may be reconciliation but the marriage just won’t be the same again. Trust will always be lacking. It is sad to see that even in the church today, many are no longer focused on the walls of marriage anymore. They are too busy being distracted by the bulldozer of lust. 

With this in mind, sin distracts you from doing what you called to do. It wastes your time as you chasing that which is unnecessary. And if you get back to what you were supposed to be doing, yo find that you have lost valuable time and that things are not the same as it was before. Trust is lost. Most people will be living with shame and guilt. Hating themselves for making those mistakes. The bottom line is that no one is without sin. Everyone makes mistakes. Even David did. He wrote Psalms 51 when he cheated on Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to Your loving devotion;

according to Your great compassion,

blot out my transgressions.

2Wash me clean of my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

4 Against You, You only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in Your sight

so that You may be proved right when You speak

and blameless when You judge.

5 Surely I was brought forth in iniquity;

I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being;

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide Your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from Your presence;

take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

and sustain me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

and sinners will return to You.

14 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare Your praise.

16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and a contrite heart,

O God, You will not despise.

18 In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper;

build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,

in whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Did you notice that David asked God to build up the walls of Jerusalem?