Day 25 - walls

Yesterday I was walking the dog at Dromore Motte and Bailey - a hill fort built in 1200 by John De Courcy  after the Norman conquest which is a perfect place for a spot of dog walking and contemplation.

Every time I go there I marvel at the thought of the effort which people put into building this huge mound and moat in days before modern tools and engineering techniques.  I imagine that they had buckets and spades and picks and barrows and that it took dozens and dozens of men many months to pile up the tonnes of earth as a defence against their enemies and a lookout post over the surrounding countryside.

Yesterday I was wondering what it is that makes human beings want to build castles and walls and defences.   Walls are very much in the news at the moment of course - what with Mr Trump having already started work on his great Mexican barricade.  There are walls in the middle east and in Belfast and across borders and boundaries all over the world - we seem to have an inbuilt need to keep people out and separate ourselves from each other by physical means.   It's sad.  I wish we could all live without walls

As I was thinking about this I felt the Lord say to me ' think about the good things walls do'

I filed that one away for later.   

Then, later, I bumped into a friend who was telling me that she had been driving down the road

beside the army barracks in Lisburn that afternoon.  The sun was shining on the barbed wire which runs along the top of the fence and she said she almost had to stop the car to look at it because it was like a chain of silver and gold sparkling in the sunshine.  She'd never seen anything like it.  When she turned the corner out of the sunlight the barbed wire was just grubby grey wire again.   But for a few moment she had witnessed the jagged, threatening fence become something really beautiful.

How can something as horrible as a barbed wire fence be lovely?  How can walls be good?   

Well, I suppose we could look at what God says about walls in the Bible.   The old testament is full of walls.  Jericho, Jerusalem, the fortified cities of Judah ..... lots of defensive walls in times of battle but also lots of references to walls in times of peace.

In 2 Chronicles 14, we learn of the good king Asa, who did “what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord; he “built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace…’Let us build up these towns,’ he said to Judah, ‘and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side.’ So they built and prospered.”

There seems to be a theme running through the OT that walls were necessary for defence in times of war but that in times of peace the walls symbolised the protection and provision and peace of God.  In Revelation 21 when we read of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven its so interesting to see that it has walls made of jasper set on the foundations of jewels.  There are no enemies in heaven, there is no need for defences, and yet the city is still bounded by walls.  The walls have twelve gates in them but the gates will never be closed - there will be no need.  There will be nothing to keep out.

So why are there walls in the first place?  If its not to keep anyone out, perhaps it is to provide a boundary marker - or maybe to display to the heavenly realm the physical place where God is now dwelling with His people? 

The walls in the Old Testament are built by men.  They are mostly defensive. 

The walls in Revelation are built by God and they are about salvation, the dwelling place of God, peace, hope and joy.  

Perhaps we need to focus a little less on building defensive walls around ourselves and run instead into the loving arms of a Father who promises to be our shield, our strong tower, our very present help.  The walls He builds are beautiful, precious, impregnable, safe and entirely without fear.