8/2/2011 6:20:54 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Challenging
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 2:17-20
Message of the verses: “17 Then I said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach." 18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they put their hands to the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, "What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 So I answered them and said to them, "The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.’”
I am really not sure why or how the commentary by Warren Wiersbe seems to have two names or perhaps it has only one name, but is longer than any of his other “Be” books. At any rate when I looked it up online the first time I found the name of his book “Stand Firm in the Face of Opposition,” and now I find the book called “Be Determined,” and so I think when I make reference to it from now on in my SD I will refer to it as “Be Determined.”
Today’s SD will finish the second chapter in both the book of Nehemiah, and also the commentary “Be Determined.” I have been working on the last main point for three days now and today’s SD is the last sub-point under the main point “He had faith to challenge others.” The challenging part is found in today’s SD, and this is an important part of being a good leader, no matter whether it is in business, the home or the Church.
We left Nehemiah yesterday riding around Jerusalem at night with a few men surveying the ruins of Jerusalem’s walls and gates which he found in very bad shape. In today’s SD Nehemiah makes a challenge to the men who rode with him, and that challenge is to build the walls and gates of Jerusalem and their answer to Nehemiah was “Let us arise and build.” How did Nehemiah convince these men in such a short time to rebuild the walls and the gates of Jerusalem? I think that the answer is found in verse eighteen where he speaks to them about the hand of his God and how it has been favorable to him by having the king give his permission and even supply the things needed to rebuild the walls and the gates as seen in chapter one.
The next part of this section shows how Nehemiah dealt with his enemies and also the enemies of the Lord. After hearing of the plan that Nehemiah and these men had these enemies began to ridicule them, something that the enemy will do when there is nothing else to do thinking that by their ridicule they would be able to stop the work. God had put the burden of rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem in the heart of Nehemiah, and God had burdened him to pray for four months about this burden, and then God had moved in the king’s heart to actually be an answer to Nehemiah’s prayer by asking him why he was sad. God has also moved in the heart of the king to approve Nehemiah’s leaving his job as cupbearer and go to Jerusalem to do this project and to supply Nehemiah with the necessary supplies to do this work. So when Nehemiah runs into some ridicule from the enemies he handles it with confidence because the hand of his God was upon him and tells his enemies that the God of heaven will give us success and also tells them that they have no business in trying to help in this project. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The stage is now set and the drama is about to begin.” The drama of rebuilding the walls and gates will begin in chapter three and end in chapter six, but there will still be many more challenges for Nehemiah as governor and leader of Jerusalem.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There has been a struggle going on inside me and I believe that the struggle is from the enemy of my soul. I truly believe that the Lord has sent Sandy and I to Kauai, and for a while I have had difficulty in figuring out why, for our job stopped after four months which was suppose to last for two years. Late in the month of July a new job began on a different island, but it seems that this was not for us and so we have opted to return to Ohio and resume our lives there. There is an obstacle in our path and that is the selling of our car, and this where the struggle is going on inside me. We purchased a new car when we got here because it was cheaper in renting one and we thought we would be here for two years and then an older car for me to drive to work so Sandy would have a car to get around in. At this time we put our van in Ohio on the market for a number of sound reasons. A couple of weeks ago our older car sold and we were praising the Lord and yesterday the van was sold and so we were praising the Lord for that too. After all of these wonderful blessings from the Lord I am still having some trouble in trusting the Lord for the sale of our new car and this is what is bothering me. As I look at the life of Nehemiah seeing that he was doing the will of the Lord and was being patient for four months in waiting for an answer from the Lord and then getting it and going on with the work, and then having a struggle with the enemies of the Lord I see something similar and this give me confidence in the situation that I find myself in at this time. I have a desire to be a good steward of the things that the Lord has entrusted me with and therefore do not want to sell my car back to the dealer at such a loss and believing that this would also bring glory to the Lord if we could sell this car at a little better price than the dealer wants to give us for it, I have a great desire to trust the Lord to work this out as He did the other cars.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Trust the Lord to bring about the sale of our car as He did the others.
2. Continue to learn contentment and I believe that this struggle that I am facing is part of that learning for me.
3. Romans 12:1-2
4. Proverbs 3:5-6
5. Ephesians 6:10-18
6. Pray that the answers to my prayers would bring glory to the Lord.
7. Trust the Lord to give Sandy a good time on her boat trip and keep her safe from harm.
8. Trust the Lord to give me the words to say to the prisoners as I speak to them on Thursday and what is said by me will bring glory to His name.
8/2/2011 7:31:08 AM
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