Hands that Build.

I come to the Lord often with dust around my knees, pieces of rubble chipping off my shoulders, cracks in my heart-- weakness.

I come to Him broken.

I come in need of repair.

And to One whose body was broken, yet not broken-- no bones of His,

To One who was healed perfectly, He heals—

To One in whom all is built up, He lives as the chief cornerstone, who builders rejected.

To One who laid the foundations of the world, who is now the foundation of all life in Him,

To Him I come.

Our earthly shelter will always be threatened, storms, almost a guarantee. And in this life, sometimes hurricane force. The Old Testament speaks over and over, all foundations will be torn down, broken, all foundations but a life built on Christ, the stones of His temple. And with all this tearing down, I wonder that I am so capable of adding destruction, of tearing down, that I am such a storm myself. I wonder that I dowse myself in rain, that I pour buckets of water on others, when storms already rage. I look to these hands, hands that tear down, hands that must fold in prayer-- and place them into His nail pierced hands, hands that build.

And when I crumble, when I break away in weakness, I fall back down on the foundation. And I must prepare the field before I build again. I pray, I sweep up the rubble that is in the way. (Proverbs 14:26, Nehemiah 4:10) Rubble, swept away with confession. I will wipe away the blood which I too spilled. I will wash myself in it.

I pray hard Lord, for today-- for enough faith to live in a tent, to live in a desert, to live in a foreign land, to be ninety-nine and still expecting Your promise to build—To wait. Patiently. -- While You draw up the building plans. (Hebrews 11:9-10)

Lord, I pray that I will not in haste build with straw. That I will choose my stones carefully. That You will build in me stones that cannot be torn down. Stones that withstand storms. (1 Cor 3:9-15) I pray Lord, that walls would be established with many hands working together; that I would lay stones next to and atop the carefully laid brick of my brothers and sisters. (1 Corinthians 3:10, Nehemiah 2:17)

My home Lord, I cannot build into it a strength that has not been knit into me. It is Your home Lord, help me to build onto You, into You, grafted. Help me to raise my children up, put Your foundation beneath them. Help me to withstand storms, to be a shelter within Your shelter. To build a place of rest, an En Gedi in this earthly dessert. (Isaiah 66:1)  

I, Lord, who You call weak—help me to do the work of men. Gird me with strength, strengthen my arms. (Proverbs 31:17) When large stones are too heavy, help me to move them gradually, daily, in faith, with persistence. Towers come down much more swiftly than they go up. My hands, my words, help them to brace, tighten, mend and repair. Help them to edify. Help my eyes to see the leaks in the roof, see the weak places, to be guided in carrying out Your work. Help our family to build together a dry place for You to enter, a home where You visit often. (Ephesians 2:20) May the décor be that of peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, of love and grace… may it be the “righteousness and justice” which are the foundation of Your throne…the “mercy and truth” that go before Your face. (Psalm 89:14)

Help me to build with a weapon at my side to defend what is being made beautiful. May the hammer that I hold, press in nails that strengthen, not the nails that pierced Your hands. May He who prowls in the night limp away from the Light which shines bright at our doorstep. Be the night watchman, the architect. (Psalm 127:1)

May all I do be purposeful to build up those around me. You ask nothing less; You give much more. Weak hands make a strong back. I must tear the muscles before they grow strong. May I pray with Nehemiah, “Oh God, strengthen my hands.” (Nehemiah 6:9)

        

      God's love sonnet to me today is in His hand which sweeps away the rubble, the hand which rebuilds.

            Proverbs 14:1

              The wise woman builds her house,
                  But the foolish pulls it down with her hands. 

 

Isaiah 58:11-13

¹¹ The LORD will guide you continually,
      And satisfy your soul in drought,
      And strengthen your bones;
      You shall be like a watered garden,
      And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
       ¹² Those from among you
      Shall build the old waste places;
      You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
      And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
      The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. 

Ephesians 4:16

from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

Romans 14:19
Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace 

and the things by which one may edify another.

A friend read Barenstain Bears to her children, the jist of Mama Bear's words: never tattle to be mean, just to get someone in trouble. It is easier to tear down. We seem bent on doing it, even as children. This practice of building each other up starts at such a young age. May I help my children to be carpenters too-- to be like You.