Walls

I drove down a busy highway Wednesday. As usual, I was in a hurry to get where I was going. The traffic was backed up due to a fender bender up ahead so I had no choice but to slow down and sit still. I first looked ahead and counted cars and wondered how long I would have to sit.  I then began to take in the scenery- restaurants, convenience stores, and a shopping mall. I remembered what was once on this stretch of highway on the outskirts of town- a few homes, fields, and one factory.  To my right, I looked at the factory. Sometime between that moment, I looked and the last time I looked, which seemed to be only yesterday, the big factory had been diminished to a pile of rubble. The yellow brick walls were now crushed and crumbled by heavy machinery.  I looked at the heavy equipment operators still there working making sure the walls and the building were completely destroyed. I wondered how much longer it probably took to build those walls than it did to tear them down. I thought of how the walls once protected that inside from the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. Now they were gone As I was forced to sit still a few minutes in front of the broken down walls of the factory, I thought of various kinds of walls.
 
Walls are an important part of history.  Walls were once used to defend cities from potential aggressors.  In the Bible, we find walls were the place of many a battle.  Walls were constantly being built, torn down, and rebuilt, over and over.  
  
Even though walls aren't built around our cities today, they are still very important to us.  Walls are built to keep things in and keep things out.  Walls keep out the noise we don't want to hear and keep noise in we don't want others to hear.  They keep cold and heat from us.  They keep cold and heat near us.  We still build, tear down, and rebuild walls today.  Most people  think  walls,  that keep noise, heat, and cold in or out, are a good thing
 
Of course, there are other walls not built of wood and plaster, or brick and mortar, that aren't so good. There are emotional walls that shield us from things we don't want in and things we don't want out. It takes much longer to build those walls than it does to tear them down.    If those walls are torn down we usually live a freer happier life.  It is sometimes hard to get past those walls on our own, but with God's help, we can leap over them.
 
II Samuel 22:30
For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
 
 
 
 Another kind of wall is a wall we build between and among ourselves.  We practice walling ourselves into particular groups and walling others out.  In Ephesians, we are told Jesus, our peace, has broken down walls that divide us.
 
 
Ephesians 2:14
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
 
 
Finally, in Revelation, the very last time wall is mentioned in the Bible, we are told of the beauty of the walls of the city we all hope to see one day.
 
 
Revelation 21:19
 
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
 
As traffic began to move slowly, I knew some more walls would probably go up in the spot where those walls had been torn down. I knew the next time I took the time to notice, a new building with new walls would be sitting there. 
This moment in my day made me take the time to think of the importance of walls. Perhaps maybe you too should slow down and think of walls in your life.
 
As you look at the four walls that surround you, remember a time when walls were a place of violent battles   Be thankful for the peace and protection you know within your walls.
Perhaps there are emotional walls that with God's help you have been able to leap and overcome. Thank Him for that.
Thank God He is our peace and through Him all walls that separate us from one another in the Body of Christ
can be torn down completely.
Finally,  imagine the beauty of the wall that will surround a heavenly city  we will see one day when
 all earthly walls are no more.
It is a wall no man can destroy. It is a wall that will stand forever.