8/20/2011 9:03:13 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Intrigue: “We will not give up”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 6:15-19
Message of the verses: “15 ¶ So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 17 Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19 Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.”
In today’s SD we will discuss the forth strategy that Satan used against Nehemiah, strategies that he still uses on believers today.
We can see from the passages above that Satan never gives up even after the battle of building the walls were complete in only fifty-two days and it seemed that now the people of Jerusalem could take a break from the battle for they had won a great victory, but they all needed to follow the advice of what a saintly Scottish minister once said. Andrew A. Bonar said “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” Elijah would agree with this statement for after he won a great victory in killing 400 prophets of Baal he ran for his life from Jezebel who said she would kill him. I experienced the same thing, for after my 18 month son had successful open heart surgery on May 7, 1980, and after praying for many months about this we saw a perfect operation on him, but spiritually it was the worst summer of my life for Satan did not give up after this victory and I was like Elijah losing the battle after winning the war. Nehemiah however was not like this for he continued to be on guard against the attacks that the evil one was using against him.
John Ray wrote a book in 1670 entitled “English Proverbs” and in that book he penned these words “Blood is thicker than water,” and the meaning is obvious. Humanly speaking, you have greater obligation to a relative than you do to a stranger. This is what we see happening in the verses from today’s SD. This is the answer to the question as to why these Jews from Judah were supporting Tobiah, but they were going, not only against Nehemiah, but against Nehemiah’s God as well. I want to take a look at a few different Scriptures that will show this and why they were wrong.
Let us start in the beginning chapter of the Bible in order to show that Judah would be the special tribe to bring the Messiah into the world. Genesis 49:10 “’The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.’” The next verses that I want to look at show the family of Judah that the Messiah would be born into. 2Samuel 7 tells the story of David having a desire to build a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, but because his hands were bloody from fighting so many wars the Lord told David that his son would build the temple, but that God would build a dynasty through David. This dynasty would end with the birth of Jesus Christ. 2Samuel 7:11b “The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you.”
The devil has always been against the nation of Israel because they are God’s chosen people and it was through them that the Word of God was written and also the God of the Word came to earth as Messiah and Satan knew that this was going to happen and this is why he was trying to stop this from happening and this is one of the places in Scripture that we can see Satan’s work against trying to stop this from happening.
Now let us look at another Scripture that has to do with why these Jews were wrong in siding with Tobiah against Nehemiah and this time the words are from the Lord Jesus Christ “Matt. 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.’” I want to go back to the statement from the English proverb about blood being thicker than water and interject that when you think about this statement and remember that Jesus Christ shed His blood so that I would become a believer in Him then this statement is true.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Again I see the great leadership abilities of Nehemiah in his discernment, for he knew that he was in a battle and that he was being tempted and that there were people who were out to stop the work he was doing for it was a work of the Lord and that is always opposed. Spiritual discernment is a quality that I surely need to sharpen for the glory of the Lord.
At this time I wish to quote from Dr. Wiersbe on what he writes at the end of this section, which is the end of this chapter and what he writes will help tie this chapter into the next chapter: “Nehemiah’s story began with ‘So I prayed’ (Neh. 2:4). Then we read, ‘So I came to Jerusalem (V-11).’ ‘So they strengthened their hands for this good work’ is the next link in the chain (V-18), followed by ‘So built we the wall’ (4:6) and, ‘So we labored’ (V-21).
“Now we reach the end of this part of the story; ‘So the wall was finished’ (6:15). But this marks a new beginning, for now Nehemiah must protect what he has accomplished. How he does this is the theme of the rest of the book.” Stay tuned for how he does this.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to pursue discernment for the glory of the Lord.
2. Continue to pursue contentment for the glory of the Lord.
8/20/2011 10:08:39 AM
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