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September 15: Nehemiah 13:1-9
Key Verse: Nehemiah 13:8
I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.
Devotion:
When we sort things out in our lives or in our businesses, there is bound to be someone who will go against what we are doing because they have their own motives which are not the same as yours. They may be saying and doing the right thing at the time, but as soon as your back is turned, they revert to their own motivations and things go astray once again!
God knows there are going to be people in our lives who will go against what we are doing for God; and when this happens, we have to work hard to bring things back in line. Nehemiah was back with the king at the time while Eliashib was undoing what had been done and when Nehemiah returned, he had work to do!
The priest had, in effect, invited the evil back into the city after Nehemiah had spent a long time trying to protect the city from evil and well as re-focus the people back on God. When the people heard the words said by Moses where it said, ‘no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,’ they took things literally and excluded any foreigners from the city!
God does not want us to exclude people from the church just because He demanded that of certain races during the times of the great exodus. Jesus came to show us how to include all people into His kingdom; how we should love our neighbours... But He did not tell us to invite evil back into our lives... Tobiah had done many things to try and prevent Jerusalem from turning back to God and would continue to do so.
Points to Ponder:
What do you get up to when you’re not “in church”?
Will you live your life as if Jesus is standing next to you instead?
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September 14: Nehemiah 12:27-30
Key Verse: Nehemiah 12:30
When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.
Devotion:
Nehemiah did not stop with making sure people got to hear the word properly, digest it, confess their sins and worship their God. He also made sure the gates and walls were dedicated to God. Too many times in our lives we are given or gain good things which we simply accept and carry on enjoying. What about making sure God is celebrated in these gifts or gains? What about making sure we remember just who it is who has given us access to such things in our lives!
I think the best houses I have lived in are the houses where I have asked God to bless and continued to ask Him to help look after them. The best things in life have also become more enjoyable and of greater blessing when I have involved God in the decision making and the looking after things.
Just like Nehemiah was doing here, we should be making sure God is involved in all things in our lives, especially those which are important or crucial! Just because it is made of bricks or stones or mud does not mean we leave God out of things! God needs to be involved in our physical world as well as our spiritual worlds.
Do you invite your best friend(s) to be a part of your life? Do you involve them in more aspects of your life than others? Do you allow them to help make decisions? Do you involve your partner in decisions you make in your life? If we want healthy relationships, we should be involving others in our lives and making relationships real. We also need to make sure we make our relationships with God real and involve Him more in our everyday lives and not just on our holy days!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you ask God for help making decisions in everyday life?
Will you try to involve God more in your daily routines?
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September 13: Nehemiah 9:1-3
Key Verse: Nehemiah 9:3
They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshipping the Lord their God.
Devotion:
I like the way Nehemiah talks about how those people who were direct descendants of the Israelites separated themselves from other people in order to complete their worshipping. This, to me, highlights how it is OK to be different in our churches. We do not all have to do exactly what the Israelites do because they were given rules and laws by God which were never given to the rest of the world.
What was given to the rest of the world was the gospel after Jesus had opened up ministry to the gentiles beyond the borders of the Jewish states. But, as a Christian from outside the Israelites, I want to know all about the Old Testament ways so I can understand God better and know just how much His love and Strength can accomplish when people allow them into their lives.
Another thing we need to take notice of is how Nehemiah shows the dedication of the Israelites. This has to be an inspiration to us all to seek God more in our own lives! They read from the scriptures for a quarter of a day, not just five minutes, not just a while... They were willing to spend time in God’s Word, reading, taking it in and understanding it.
But then comes the next step. Spending another quarter of a day in confession and in worshipping God! When we spend time in the Word, we also need to spend time in admitting we have failed to uphold everything we have read. We need to understand we do break God’s laws and for that we do need to confess things to Him. But we also need to worship Him in any ways we can... Just because we cannot all get into a church and worship together does not mean we cannot do this at all. The Israelites did this ‘where they stood’ and so can we!
Points to Ponder:
When was the last time you took time out to spend reading the bible?
When was the last time you took more time out to confess and worship?
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September 12: Nehemiah 8:13-17
Key Verse: Nehemiah 8:16
So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.
Devotion:
This year has seen many things change for the whole world and one of the biggest I have missed is the large gatherings of Christians in the summer where so many come together in one place to camp in temporary shelters (tents or chalets) so people can re-focus on God.
This year during the time when we would normally gather near Peterborough in the UK for New Wine, we all had to stay at home and in very small groups... not quite the same as thousands of people getting together... But, nonetheless, we did spend that time trying to refocus on God in an entirely new way. Unfortunately, I was quite busy with work during that week, but having the whole week recorded and available to watch online at a later date helped me catch up a few weeks later...
What am I getting at? Sometimes we get too carried away with the organisation of things to stop and spend our time refocusing on God. Nehemiah got all the organisation out of the way, got the celebrations out the way, and then tried to spend some time alone with God.
Sometimes we do find the connection with God when we are in big groups, but sometimes we do have to separate ourselves from the every-day to reconnect in a meaningful way. Whatever way we find is best for us is going to be best for God since we are reconnecting with Him.
As the weekend starts, maybe this is a good time for you to stop the everyday for a while and spend time with your God away from the distractions of life...
Points to Ponder:
What are you willing to do to reconnect with your God?
Will you stop your everyday activities for a season to settle down with God?
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September 11: Nehemiah 8:10
Key Verse: Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’
Devotion:
After all of this had happened and they had listened to God’s Word to remind themselves of where they had come from, how God had looked after them and re-focused their hearts and minds on the Saviour, Nehemiah wanted people to be able to have a celebration. He did not make a grand celebration as soon as the wall was complete, nor after they had hung the gates. He waited until people remembered why they had done this all – for the glory of God.
Now they were in the right state to celebrate, not the fact they had managed to get everything done by themselves, not how they had managed to do it in the face of adversity, but because they had been able to do this because God enabled them to do so!
When we have things going our way and we are enjoying life, we still need to remember just whom it is who has enabled this all in the first place. We need to remember what God has asked us to do. We need to remember why God has asked us to do this all...
Nehemiah’s words here are simple – go and enjoy good food and drinks... but remember those who do not have any and give some to them so they can celebrate too. As Christians, God has call us to care for our neighbours just as much as we care for ourselves – yes, I have changed the words, but isn’t that what love is all about – caring for those people.
When we realise we have done something wrong against God, it is not always easy to pick ourselves up and move forward loving our neighbours, but God will give you the strength and wisdom to do this if you are doing it for Him. God wants us to enjoy life, but not leave others without anything...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you enjoy life?
When you spend time with God, will you set time aside for others as well?
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September 10: Nehemiah 8:2-3
Key Verse: Nehemiah 8:3
He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Devotion:
Nehemiah was urged to find out who was there in Jerusalem after the walls and gates had been completed. The city was on lock-down during night hours and gates were only to be opened after the sun had warmed up the day. Unlike the UK, this would probably have been quite early in the morning due to the hotter days there.
Some of the people who claimed to be descendants of the priests were excluded because their names had not been recorded in the family trees. This may sound harsh, but this was in accordance with the laws for the Jews at that time. Why was this done? Because Nehemiah was about to ask for the law to be read out and he did not want small things like this to get in the way of people listening to the law.
When we read God’s word, we should prepare ourselves to do just that. There is nothing worse than having something on your mind which will distract you even before you get to grips with what God would want you to hear. We should try to put aside the distractions of the world before we commune with God otherwise we will be fighting our minds trying to listen to two or more things at the same time.
God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. This means putting aside things which will take us away from that relationship. The reward for making our relationships personal is a much better and deeper relationship with God. Set time aside to calm yourself and your life down a bit before you next read God’s Word – you will find you get much more out of it!
Points to Ponder:
How do you treat your personal relationships?
Will you aim to have a deeper relationship with God?
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September 9: Nehemiah 6:11-16
Key Verse: Nehemiah 6:16
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realised that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Devotion:
The more we focus on God and His will in our lives, the less we focus on the world around us and the evil one who is waiting to trip us up all the time. The net result from this is we see how God continues to look after us – but when we focus on the world we see how the world diverts us away from God. If we focus on the negative, that is what we see, but when we focus on the positive, we do see more positive things!
Nehemiah was wary of the Prophet Noadiah because her words did not quite marry up with the words He had got from God; there was a difference in the way in which God was asking them to work. The prophet was saying God would be with them if they shut themselves off in the temple – which sounded ok on the surface but was not what God said in the beginning. God had told Nehemiah He would be with the people no matter where they were!
We do need to remember this because God has promised us all He will be with us no matter where we are and what we have done in our lives. We do not have to meet up in church buildings for God to be with us. We do not have to make sure we meet up on the Sabbath so God can meet us then. We can call on God wherever and whenever we are!
God listens to our prayers all the time and is answering prayers all the time. We should not limit God to a day or a place where we can see the result whilst being surrounded by lots of other Christians of like mind! The more we go through the Old Testament, the more we should realise God was with people all over the world and continued to look after people no matter what. But when people walked off in the wrong direction, they lost sight of where God was and how He could help them; they were too consumed with worrying about what the world was doing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get worried about not being in church?
Will you call out to God from where you are right now?
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September 8: Nehemiah 6:5-9
Key Verse: Nehemiah 6:8
I sent him this reply: ‘Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.’
Devotion:
The more you can recognise the opposition you will get when doing God’s work, the more you will be able to identify empty threats. I know I have faced many a threat in my lifetime and some of them are extremely upsetting at the time, but so many of them are in fact empty threats made by people who are becoming desperate in one way or another.
Our laws in the Western world are designed to protect us from threats, but many choose to use the words and bend them to their advantage and make you more worried about the threat they are imposing on you. It is these types of threats which are more likely to derail us in our work for God because they seem official at the time.
The more we focus on God, the more we may be able to stand up against these people because He will, through the Holy Spirit, allow us to discern the true from false threats we face. The key point is taking any threat directly to God first and not panicking about it... easier said than done I know! But believe me when I say it does work.
Far too often we are surprised when our prayers are answered by God especially when we find ourselves in awkward positions from which there seems no way out. We need to have more faith and realise the more we do put our faith in God the more we realise our faith is upheld by a faithful God. The more we realise this, the greater our faith becomes... but also be aware, the less you rely on God the more likely your faith is going to wane – but it really is all in our heads!
Points to Ponder:
Do you take everything to God?
How much do you really rely on God?
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September 7: Nehemiah 6:1-4
Key Verse: Nehemiah 6:4
Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Devotion:
The more you work for God, the more you can expect to have opposition along the way. The closer you get to your goals in God’s work, the harder the evil one pushes against your work to make you stumble. The evil one knows he has lost the war, but that is not going to stop him from trying to win every little battle along the way – just in case!
I continue to thank God each time I come up against opposition because I know I am on the right path... Don’t get me wrong, getting opposition from God’s people is not what I am referring to here, but the people who don’t want to lose their own power.
I hope I will always be wise enough to defer decisions and power to God alone and not to try and work things out for my own glory. This is not a fight we fight to gain glory for ourselves, but a battle we have to which gives all the glory to God our Father. Like Nehemiah I wish more people in positions of power would bow to the wisdom of God instead of building up their own positions.
Sanballat and Geshem continued to try and get Nehemiah to back off, to stop the constant working for God’s glory just so they could gain a bit more glory and a few more followers. We need to constantly work towards the goals which will give glory to our King, Jesus Christ, and always work against the opposition which is going to rise up time and time again.
The opposition may well be invitations to parties or celebrations which, on the surface, look like they are nothing more than good fun. If they do not come from God and are not in support of your work for God, then you should avoid them! Always keep your eyes on God and His work!
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep working with God?
Where are your eyes focused?
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September 6: Nehemiah 5:14-16
Key Verse: Nehemiah 5:14
Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year – twelve years – neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.
Devotion:
One thing I learned at an early age was any work we volunteer to do for God must not have a time limit or span imposed by us. God wants people to step forward and help where we can without worrying about how long we must do the work or when it's going to stop. God will continue to guide you in any position He has given you and will allow you to know when it is time to move on or even stop...
Nehemiah did not complain about how long things took, nor how long it would take them to finish the wall. Even though it took a remarkably fleeting time to fix the wall, the work was only just beginning... This brief paragraph talks about twelve years of work, not as a dull time but a time when they did not take advantage of the weak or poor, even when the law was on their side!
Sometimes the so-called laws of man are bent beyond belief and they become hardships instead of laws which should be protecting those who need protection. The leaders and rich people did not need the taxes of the poor to remain in power or to live on, not really. They had enough but were just being greedy to uphold a broken law. Nehemiah got them to promise to put things right and to give the poor the relief they needed to survive.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for the poor in your community?
Have you donated to a foodbank lately?