{"id":3094,"date":"2026-04-29T04:45:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/?p=3094"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:19:48","slug":"except-the-lord-build-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/devotional\/except-the-lord-build-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Except the Lord Build the House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Except the Lord Build the House<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nehemiah<\/strong> held the cup in his hand. He stood before King Artaxerxes<\/em> in the palace at Shushan. The wine was ready to be poured. The king sat on his throne, surrounded by guards and advisors.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah<\/em> had served the king for years, pouring wine with a steady hand and a calm face. But that day, the hand trembled and the face showed sorrow.<\/p>\n

The king noticed. “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart<\/em>” (Nehemiah 2:2 KJV).<\/p>\n

Nehemiah feared greatly. A sad face before the king could mean death. But Nehemiah carried a burden heavier than the fear of punishment.<\/p>\n

The walls of Jerusalem <\/strong>lay broken. The gates were burned with fire. The people of God lived in despair, troubled on every side.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah<\/em> had heard the report months earlier. Hanani<\/strong>, one of his brethren, came from Judah with news. “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire<\/em>” (Nehemiah 1:3 KJV).<\/p>\n

Nehemiah sat down and wept. He mourned for days. He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.<\/p>\n

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”<\/strong> (Psalm 127:1 KJV)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Did Nehemiah rush to Jerusalem? Did he gather stones and mortar with his own hand first of all? Nah! He went first to the Lord. He confessed the sins of Israel.<\/p>\n

He reminded God of His promises. “Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: but if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do<\/em> them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there”<\/em> (Nehemiah 1:8-9 KJV).<\/p>\n

The king spoke. “For what do you make request?<\/em>” (Nehemiah 2:4 KJV). Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven. Then he answered. “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it<\/em>” (Nehemiah 2:5 KJV).<\/p>\n

The king granted the request. He gave letters for safe passage and timber from the forest.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah went to Jerusalem,<\/em> inspected the walls by night, did not tell anyone what God had put in his heart. Then he said to the people, “You see the distress we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer reproach<\/em>” (Nehemiah 2:17 KJV). The people said, “Let us rise up and build<\/em>.” They strengthened their hands for this good work.<\/p>\n

Sanballat mocked, Tobiah laughed. “What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?<\/em>” (Nehemiah 2:19 KJV). Nehemiah answered, “The God of heaven himself will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build”<\/em> (Nehemiah 2:20 KJV).<\/p>\n

The wall rose higher each day. The workers held a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. They laboured from the break of dawn until the stars appeared. The enemies plotted to attack, but the Lord disappointed their devices.<\/strong> In fifty-two<\/em> days, the wall was finished.<\/p>\n

The Lord built that house.<\/p>\n

LET US PRAY<\/h2>\n

Lord, let the foundation and blocks be laid, and let the building be completed.<\/p>\n

In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labor is empty and vanity without the Master Architect. See why the Lord must build the house and keep the city for work to have lasting substance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[794],"tags":[834,961,964,845,962,965,960,963,966],"class_list":["post-3094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","tag-biblical-wisdom","tag-building-a-home","tag-christian-living","tag-devotional","tag-divine-provision","tag-faith-and-work","tag-psalm-127","tag-spiritual-foundation","tag-success-in-god"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3094"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3111,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094\/revisions\/3111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}