Day 271 Neh 11-13; Ps 126

I most definitely had a momentary lapse of reason this morning.  I am reading along with the dedication of the Temple and the Praise and Worship like the time of David is occurring.  Did I really think Yeah!! They are back? (Like God does to us when we make a commitment) But have I not learned anything from the past 271 days….our humanity is so sinful. 

I found it interesting that as we read the last days of the Old Testament reminders are given to us that go all the way back to Genesis.  Lot’s drunken incestuous relationship bringing forth the Moabites and the Ammonites are now in the Temple. (Balaam…wow, remember the talking DOnkey!), working on the Sabbath, and whenever the spiritual leader left the people backslided. (is that a word)

When Nehemiah left the Jews in Babylon, they slid back and when He left the ones in Jerusalem they did the same.  Ugggg is it so obvious we need a Savior to save us…we clearly can’t do it on our own.

Don’t forget Psalm 126.

Nehemiah 8-10

Even if you are just starting with the New Testament you will want to read Nehemiah 8-10.  WOW.  It is a great recap of the Old Testament.  The people were allowed out of exile and the few that returned to Jerusalem were struggling physically and spiritually.  SO Nehemiah gathers the people to hear Ezra read God’s words.  We all know what happens when we are on God’s Word! We are revived, I know you know it too.  So read these 3 chapters, it’s a short read so take your time and recount the history of the Jewish people or recount the history of yourself with the Lord. 

End with a confession of our past sins and make a commitment going forward to walk in the ways of the Lord for we are about to read the New Covenant.  A promise of salvation but also a way of life to follow.  So read today and get ready to let the old die because a fresh start we get.

Nehemiah 1-5 (plus a little extra)

Nehemiah is one of the highest ranking officials in the Medo-Persian court–he is the cupbearer to the King. After hearing of the Jews situation in Jerusalem, he desired to go back to his homeland. He was concerned about asking the King, Artaxerxes, so he prayed that God would give him favor with the king. Not only did the king allow him to go, he also provided timber for the wall & gates of Jerusalem and a house for Nehemiah. The wall was rebuilt in 52 days! around 445-444 B.C. 

ch.1 The prayer stood out to me here! It made me really look at how I pray….Nehemiah FIRST praised God before asking for what he needed…..do I forget that sometimes……yep…..go back and read the prayer. v. 4-11 

ch. 2 Nehemiah goes before the King and he sees that Nehemiah is sad…..he asks what is wrong and what can I do….NOTE: What does Nehemiah do BEFORE speaking to the king? He prays–of course! …..What a good thing for me to remember–seek God BEFORE I speak.

 ch. 3 Lists who rebuilt what sections of the wall, the gates and the towers….There are 10 gates listed here….think of the size of this wall…it is around Jerusalem not a back yard!!! Towers, gates….it is huge!!!!

 ch. 4 Of course there is opposition–they are mentioned in ch. 2 and here they are again…..v. 9 and v. 14 stand out to me “But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves” and “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” What I get from this is we often pray and expect God to just hand things to us–but here is clearly an example of prayer and action on their parts. They trusted in God and sought him but also knew they had an active part as well!

 ch. 5 My Fave!! Nehemiah is the real deal! He gets everyone on board to not charge interest on the money they loaned….they said they would give everything back and demand nothing from the people. How can they get up if they keep getting knocked back down….Nehemiah lives by this example. Other governor’s had laid a heavy burden on the people–Nehemiah refused to act that way…He also devoted himself to working on the wall and had his servants do the same. He asked for nothing and regularly fed 150 Jewish officials and visitors form other lands–ALL without taking the Governor’s allowance! (could our government learn anything from Nehemiah?) *I read that there is speculation he built his home on the site of David’s former palace…and it must have been big–he seated 150 at his table! 

ch. 6 Rumors surface and then the enemy resorts to tricks BUT Nehemiah knows he has God on his side! The WALL is finished in 52 days….that is like 7 1/2 weeks–let that sink in….for a wall around an entire city…..it took longer than that to build our addition–and that is with modern equipment!!!! GO GOD!!! v. 11 “They realized this work had been done with the help of our God!”  

ch. 7 He registers the people.

Nehemiah Overview

While Ezra was in Jerusalem, 14 years later Nehemiah comes as a civil governor with the Authority of the Persian king to rebuild the walls of the temple.  The progress the jewish people had made on the temple so far had been very little.  remember most people chose not to return to Jerusalem but stay where they were when release from captivity.  This book serves as a fulfillment to the prophecies  that Zechariah and Daniel both made, that the walls of Jerusalem would be rebuilt!  Amen.

Tomorrow’s Blog was sooooo kindly written on my behalf.  Michelle Thompson, a dear friend of mine that I have NEVER met, yet we are bonded through the blog felt led to help me out this week. THANK YOU!  She is writing the blog for tomorrow.  I just know she will bring a fresh perspective to the table.  I am excited to read her notes.