THE CODE 18 MARCH 2026 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition “And I said: ‘I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that you commanded Your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.' Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer” (Nehemiah 1:5–11). Nehemiah could have approached the process of rebuilding Jerusalem by pointing the finger of accusation at those who bore responsibility for the current dilemma. If Nebuchadnezzar had not besieged Jerusalem, burned it, and taken the captives into Babylon, the Jews would not have had this huge task of rebuilding before them. Perhaps if Zerubbabel had been a bit more zealous about the task of rebuilding years earlier, when the remnant began to return from exile, things would have been different. Nehemiah had a lot of people - with their past mistakes and difficulties - he could have blamed for all the current problems. He could have rightly placed blame on Jehoiachin, Zedekiah and the other kings of Judah. They had betrayed their people and their heritage by turning away from their God, resulting in the devastation of their people, their temple and their city. But Nehemiah was wise enough to know that those who play the blame game never get the task of rebuilding completed. He refused to direct the blame to others and, instead, stepped up to take personal responsibility himself. Team building Too many people fall into the trap of blaming their present problems on the wrong decisions made by other people in the past. But falling into this trap never leads to moving forward with actually accomplishing our own tasks. Nehemiah ultimately had one goal: getting the wall rebuilt. And he was laser-focused on getting this task started right. Listen to Nehemiah's plea as he confessed to God the sins of the people of Israel: "We have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You" (Nehemiah 1:6-7). Note the plural pronoun "we." For Nehemiah, it was “we," not "they." True rebuilders identify with the fears and failures of those around them. They take personal responsibility for the situation — even if the problems didn't begin with them. Do you see how Nehemiah was team building early on in this process? He confessed other people’s sins as if they were his own. There was no “You made a mistake.” There was no “You have sinned…” Instead, Nehemiah cried out to God with two key and personal words: “we” and “I.” Taking responsibility Taking personal responsibility is the very point that keeps some from getting started on the process of rebuilding. They prefer for someone else to be blamed for the condition of their own broken walls and burned gates. It always has to be someone else's fault. This is why so many homes stay broken and so many relationships are burned. It never dawns on some of us that we should take personal responsibility. We are too busy with the task of making excuses and justifying ourselves. But the fact is that the task of rebuilding will never be accomplished until and unless we take personal responsibility. It only takes one person to get the entire process of rebuilding started, whether it is in a relationship, in the home or at the office. Nehemiah decided to become that person. And he left a lasting legacy testifying to the fact that one person, who is willing to take the initiative, can make a huge difference and be living proof that... it's never too late for a new beginning! Taken from The Nehemiah Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 2018 by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O. S. Hawkins, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, is a graduate of TCU (BBA) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv, PhD). He presently serves as Chancellor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the former pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and is President Emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources, the world’s largest Christian-screened mutual fund serving 250,000 church workers and Christian university personnel with an asset base exceeding twenty-five billion dollars, where he served as President/CEO from 1997-2022. Hawkins is the author of more than fifty books, including the best-selling Joshua Code and the entire Code series of devotionals published by HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson with sales of more than three million copies. Criswell: His Life and Times is the sequel to his previous book, In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends, and Legacies of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett. He was recently inducted into the White Rose Society by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his long-standing support of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. He is married to his wife, Susie, and has two daughters, two sons-in-law, and six grandchildren. Visit him at OSHawkins.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @OSHawkins. - Dr. O.S. Hawkins - Chancellor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Rebuilders Take Personal Responsibility Jerusalem old city wall
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