Submission to the Word of God

9/5/2011 10:43:38 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                                             Focus:  Submission to the Word

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                                         Reference:  Nehemiah 10:1-27,29

                Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now on the sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2  Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3  Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4  Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5  Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6  Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7  Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8  Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests. 9  And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; 10  also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12  Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13  Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14  The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15  Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16  Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17  Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18  Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19  Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20  Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21  Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22  Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23  Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24  Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25  Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26  Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27  Malluch, Harim, Baanah.  29  are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes;”

                We now move into chapter Ten of Nehemiah’s book and also Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah “Be Determined.”  Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “After We Say Amen,” and as usual in his introduction to a chapter he tells the reader what he can expect to find in that chapter.  He writes the following as part of his introduction to this chapter, “But was their dedication real?  There are at least three evidences given in this chapter that these people really meant what they prayed.  These same evidences will be seen in our lives if our promises to the Lord are sincere.” 

                He also tells a funny, but meaningful story at the beginning of this chapter about a man who always ended his prayer with these words “Lord clean the cobwebs out of my life clean the cobwebs out of my life.”  Another man who had heard this ending to the prayer became kind of upset because there never seemed to be any change in the man’s life so one day while this first man was praying his usual ending to his prayer this second man interrupted with these words, “And while you’re at it , Lord, kill the spider.”  The man was not sincere about his prayers, but the people who we have just meet in chapter nine were sincere about their prayer and that evidence will be seen as we work our way through chapter ten.

                We begin this commentary on chapter ten with the listing of 84 names of people who would sign a document to keep the Law that was written by Moses, and the first person’s name on the list was the governor of Jerusalem, Nehemiah.  The list also included priests, Levites, and leaders of the people, and there were many who did not sign the document that subscribed to the covenant including wives and children who didn’t have the legal right to put a personal seal on an official document.  This would include all the people who had heard the Word of God as seen in chapter eight.

                We read about the seriousness of signing this covenant from words that these people may have heard, “10 ¶  ‘You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11  your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12  that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you today, 13  in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deu. 29:10-13).”

                There is a portion of Scripture that speaks of the seriousness of taking a vow before the Lord, “’If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.’”

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The question came up as to whether or not believers in the NT should make vows to the Lord and Dr. Wiersbe points out that the relationship in the NT between believer’s and God is that of a child to a father, and therefore it is not necessary to make vows to the Lord.  I will say that early in my Christian life I was struggling a lot in reading the Word of God each day and while attending a conference in October of 1980 the speaker asked if anyone would like to make a vow to the Lord that they would read His Word at least five minutes every day, and I did make that vow to the Lord because I wanted to make sure that I stayed in His Word each day of my life.  There probably have been eight or ten days that I have missed doing this vow that I made in the almost thirty-one years since I made it, but as I look back on it, it was a very important step of faith that I took and God has honored it many times over.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Continue to read the Bible each day of my life.

2.       Continue to have a prayer time each day of my life.

3.       Continue to seek to learn contentment for my life.

9/5/2011 11:20:16 AM