Nehemiah 7 & 8
Chapter 7
Now that the wall is finished, Nehemiah is taking care of all the paperwork involved in this whole project, and he records who came back from Babylon to Jerusalem.
He is very careful about the people all being able to document who they were, and some of the priests didn't have all their "papers" so they weren't permitted to participate in the duties of the priesthood.
This was very important, because God was very specific about who He wanted to come near Him in service.
And He is very particular about those He allows in His own personal Family today, too. He invites everyone, but only those who also want Him are given this privilege. Only those who know they deserve death, and let the Lamb of God be their personal Sacrifice.
He won't force Himself on anyone who doesn't want Him.
Chapter 8
Then everyone gathered to hear the reading of the Law to the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law (v. 3). This was a good time to do this, now that the work is done, to pause and reflect on God and His goodness to us. And the Levites were there, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
When the people learned how they hadn't been following the stipulations God required, they began to mourn; but it was the time of a very important Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a joyous celebration of being released from slavery. So,
Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law (v.9).
And Nehemiah the governor told the people how to celebrate this Feast, and told them to rejoice, for the joy of the Lord is your strength (v. 10).
And, the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because now they understood the words that had been made known to them (vs. 11-12).
They all went out to get branches to build temporary shelters for a week. This was like a vacation. So they all camped out while they listened to God's Word being read to them from day to day.
This was like a camping retreat! Giving gifts like Christmas, and rejoicing in all God was doing for them, bringing them back to their land and back to Himself.
O my Father, thank You for all Your goodness and generosity to us! Thank You for this story of Ezra and Nehemiah, Your servants, and how they ministered to Your people and their response. Father, You are very emotional, and You have given us emotions to feel our joy and love for You and the sorrow that draws us to You, and all the other emotions that make us feel alive.
The reading of Your Law brought out conflicting emotions, and Your servants led them in understanding which emotions to pay attention to and which ones to ignore, because our emotions are not trustworthy to determine Truth. Your Word is Truth. Help me to always remember this.
When our emotions are flying wild all over the place, Father, help us to calm them with Your Word. Teach us how to manage how we tend to feel about what goes on in our lives, and when we feel weak, to remember that Your joy is our strength.
Help me, Father, to rejoice in You no matter what is happening all around me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Nehemiah 5 & 6
Chapter 5
Nehemiah has been informed of all kinds of extortion that had been done against the people by the nations around them, and by their own Jewish brothers; even charging excessive interest. Some had even sold their children into slavery.
So Nehemiah consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, for charging excessive interest of their own people (v. 7); and Nehemiah himself bought back the people who had been sold into slavery to the heathen around them.
And he had them make things right with one another, helping each other rather than profiting off their backs; so they could all benefit.
And Nehemiah didn't accept the pay that was to be given to the Governor (v. 15), but instead focused on the work to be done, building the wall.
He supported a lot of the people out of his own pocket because he realized how hard life was for the people, just beginning to rebuild their civilization from the ruins.
Chapter 6
Since they were still making progress on the wall, their enemies stepped up their opposition to them, even slandering Nehemiah and trying to lure him out to where they could assassinate him. But he was aware of what they were trying to do, and didn't fall into their trap.
And I am impressed with Nehemiah's continual awareness of the nearness of the Lord, praying one-sentence prayers scattered about as things progress (5:19, 6:14).
In spite of all these distractions, the wall was finished in a record 52 days! (v. 15.) Because Nehemiah never took his focus off of his purpose for being there.
O my Father, thank You for this story about Your man who took leave of his job serving a great king to come do a great work for You instead. His world would rank his near-to-the-king position as more important than building a wall around an "obscure" town far away. But he knew that this town was Your great city, and that You are a King above all kings, even the one he worked for.
Help me to always order my priorities aright, as Nehemiah did. Keep my eyes on Your ways, so that my focus will be sure. Strengthen me against all the distractions that try to take me away from Your purpose for me, and help me to finish the work You set before me to do, as Nehemiah did with the wall, and as Paul wrote that he also did (II Timothy 4:7).
Father, keep me securely in Your hand. Keep my focus on You and Your ways; You are my prize, You are my reward, You are the one I seek to know. Father, all your gifts and benefits are nice, but it is You I want.
Thank You, Father, for showing me that I will live with You where You are forever! You have given Yourself to me, and I give myself to You.
You are my Bridegroom forever, and I am Your bride forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Nehemiah 3 & 4
Chapter 3
All classes of the people (Jews) worked on the wall: goldsmiths, perfumers (v. 8), rulers and women (v. 12), Levites (v. 17), and merchants (v. 32).
And many of the people worked on the part of the wall that was right beside their own houses; now there's motivation to get the job done well!
So the whole wall around the city was progressing up to half of it's intended height.
Chapter 4
Now their enemies are going from jeers and mockings to outright attack. They're getting desperate.
This necessitated both concerted prayer and constant vigil. So they worked with one hand and held a weapon in the other (v. 17).
When we are doing God's work and succeeding, is when the enemy steps up his attacks.
So we need to be aware and take precautions, trusting in God to "have our back." But prayer is what will keep us on God's side.
It doesn't matter who we are in this World; whether we're considered important or not, whether we're a jock or a nerd, a man or a woman, an intellectual genius or mentally challenged; we are all needed in God's army to battle the enemy who wages war against us because we are God's.
And we are all working on that part of the "wall" that protects our own families and ourselves.
O my Father, You are always ready to show Yourself strong on behalf of those who trust in You. We know that the more we do Your work, and the better we succeed in it, then the more the enemy is angry that his program is being upended. Because that's what You do.
Keep us vigilant, Father; strengthen us to work with one hand and hold a weapon in the other; to persevere and never give up.
We know that the enemy's wrath is fierce because he knows that his time is short, but You have already defeated him. We may not win every battle, but You have already won the war.
Father, continue to grow Your glory in growing Your family. Continue to send out workers into the fields; to find every lost sheep, drawing them all into the safety of the one fold with one Shepherd. And when every people group and language has heard, then the end of this era will come (Matthew 24:14): Jesus will return in His glory to take up His birthright; to set up His throne to rule in righteousness.
Then this World will experience it's true Golden Age, for that thousand years.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Nehemiah 1 & 2
Chapter 1
We are introduced to Nehemiah as a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. This was a very responsible position, to eat and drink some of the king's food to make sure it wasn't poisoned.
When his brother Hanani told him the sad situation in Jerusalem, Nehemiah mourned and prayed.
We have his extensive prayer here: he is confessing the sins of the Nation, numbering himself with his people, even though he personally had never done these things. We have also seen both Ezra (9:5-15) and Daniel (9:13-19) do this. An example we too can follow for our own nation.
Chapter 2
We see Nehemiah's courage in taking his life in his hands, when the king notices that he is sad, because it was against the law to be sad in the king's presence.
Kings in those days had the power of life and death over their subjects, to do whatever they felt like doing, for any and no reason, and were not accountable to anyone else, they were kings.
So when the king asked why he was sad, he had to give him an answer. He made no excuses, but shared his concerns for the hometown of his people.
King Artaxerxes said, essentially, What can I do to help?
This king, Artaxerxes, had at the beginning of his reign (Ezra 4:6), probably while he was still married to Vashti, written to stop the work in Jerusalem (Ezra 4:21). But now it's twenty years into his reign (v. 1), and his queen is now Hadassa (Esther), and he's changed his whole view of these people. His whole attitude is completely turned around, and he now offering this servant of his to help him do what he previously had stopped.
This is when Nehemiah prayed a "popcorn prayer," a spur-of-the-moment "telegram" to God, instead of panicking. He was able to coherently lay out what he would need to take this trip and do what was needed there.
Obviously he had previously thought through his plans, so he was prepared to ask for what he needed. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me (v. 8). God had turned around the heart of this foreign king (Proverbs 21:1).
We never have reason to despair over our National leaders. Even when they are evil, and bent on destroying all that we hold dear, God can get a hold of them, and change their hearts, or remove them from their positions of power.
Nothing is too hard for God; He does whatever He wants to do, even more than those kings back then. Our Lord God Almighty will accomplish what no king ever could with this Earth and all that is on it: He is God, there is no other.
O my Father, I praise You for You are good! No king who has ever had power of authority in this World could ever do what You do, Lord. You use these kings, and their authority, to do what You have planned to do.
No mere man, or group of mankind will ever be able to change what You have decreed. Your plans for each one of us, and for all of us together, will be successful, all will be accomplished, Your purposes will be fulfilled.
And I can trust You to always do what is good, and just, and right. I know that Your plans are good. You will give the wicked people what they deserve. And You will redeem Your chosen ones, putting the punishment they each deserve on our Redeemer (that's mercy), so that His Blood will wash them clean--fit to live with You where You are.
And You are so generous, to even reward Your children for doing what You enable them to do! (That's grace.)
Thank You, Father; thank You for being God! Thank You for loving us and teaching us who You are, and how we can cooperate with Your ways, the ways You designed this World to work.
Thank You for putting so much abundance in this Earth for us to enjoy, when we live our lives in obedience to Your rules.
I pray for the leaders in our nations, those who have the power of authority to both enslave us and to free us in liberty. I pray that You work in their hearts, as You did for King Artaxerxes, to do what is beneficial to all those under their care.
That we all will have the freedom to obey Your regulations in working this Earth to have the abundance You put into it for us. Help us to love one another, taking care of each other; and to love this environment, taking care of it, too.
And I pray, Father, that You continue working Your wonderful plans in my life, and in my little world. Continue to teach me Your ways, Abba, and how to love You back. Help me to love You in everything I do, every moment of every day.
And show me how to be Christ to everyone whose life touches mine. Help me to show Your righteousness in all my attitudes, which frame all my words. So that You would be exalted in me, and You will receive all the credit, all the honor and glory, for all You have done.
And every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess Your majesty.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Esther 8-10
Here we see the resolution to counter the law Haman had established to destroy the Jews, and how the whole situation turned around.
We need to understand that "The Law of the Medes and the Persians" could never be changed or nullified. (8:8; The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.) We saw this in the book of Daniel. And it is evident in all the secular, historical documents archaeology has found.
So this was a sticky situation. God had performed miracles saving Daniel from the lions' den (Daniel 7), and his friends Hananiah, Mashael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).
But here, they need to do something else, rather than think God will do a miraculous rescue of all the Jews in the whole realm when all their enemies will be attacking them when the time came.
This solution took a lot of wisdom and discernment, and political and legal knowledge. And shows God's great compassion for His people.
Xerxes promoted Mordecai into the position that Haman had occupied, and he gave all of Haman's property to Esther.
Now Esther had to approach the king again, to beg for her people. They needed to figure out how to nullifiy a law that couldn't be nullified.
So the king called for his scribes to write out another law, according to what Mordecai would say to them (vs. 8-9), to be sent out to all one hundred twenty seven provinces, in all their different languages, by mounted couriers who rode fast horses especially bred for the king (v. 10).
This was a law that gave the Jews permission and authority to not just defend themselves on the day that their enemies were to kill them, but also to attack their enemies back, and also to confiscate their properties and possessions, as their enemies were going to do to them. A complete turn-around.
By the time the day came, all the peoples they lived among had gained great respect for them, and many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them (8:17).
So even all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because they had great respect for Mordecai (9:3).
So when the day came, instead of their enemies attacking them, they were able to dispose of all their neighbors who hated them. But they didn't confiscate their stuff. This shows that they were honorable; they took the moral high ground, and did what was right.
They also killed Haman's ten sons, so there were none left to later want revenge (9:7-10).
This is the basis for the Jewish holiday of Purim (9:20-32). God always taught His people to remember, so they would remember Him and His ways. So even today the Jews, the Hebrews, the Israelis, have long memories of their history.
And the book ends with the fame of Mordecai: for, this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater (9:4), and Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews (10:3).
No wonder that Xerxes is one of the foreign kings who had favor on the Jews, and allowed them to return to their homeland, Israel (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah).
O my Father, I praise You and I honor You, and I give You all the glory and credit for everything You have done! You are great, and You have done everything You wanted to do! You have known the evil plans of the wicked, and foiled them! You have turned the tables on those who hate You and rewarded Your people who love You.
You, Father, are unfolding all Your plans for all of us throughout this whole time-line, this whole era of Mankind on this Earth. It's all one grand story. The story of our Lord God Almighty having thought it all out in advance; then designing and making everything just right; and taking charge to redeem everything that You have allowed us to mess up.
And we are amazed with Your amazing ways! Nothing escapes Your attention or is outside Your authority to control.
I enjoy watching how You do Your things, Father! Your enjoyment in "playing the game" of worlds and civilizations and realms and universes, is so far beyond our ability to design games and write stories and imagine all that we can imagine in our little minds!
And You will always continue to do Your amazing, wondrous things, throughout all eternity, forever and ever!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Esther 5-7
Chapter 5
Here Esther approaches the king, and he accepts her. So she invites him and Haman to dinner.
Meanwhile, Haman is so incensed at Mordecai that he has a gallows built to hang him on it and plans to ask the king for his life.
Chapter 6
God caused the king to have insomnia, so that he'll have the records read to him, possibly to read himself to sleep. But by early morning he's realizing that Mordecai had saved his life, but had not been rewarded for it.
Just then Haman comes in to ask to kill Mordecai, and the king asks him his ideas on what to do for someone the king wants to honor.
Haman's pride has him so self-deluded that he can't think of anyone the king would want to honor except him.
So now, Haman must honor Mordecai instead of killing him! Wow. God knows how to turn the tables, doesn't He!
6:13 says that Haman's friends are warning him that he will fall before Mordecai, because he is a Jew. So the plot thickens.
Chapter 7
This is the second night in a row that they're having dinner with Esther. Here is where we see some real "poetic justice"!
Esther tells Xerxes that Haman is the evil man who determined to destroy her and her people, so Haman is hanged on his own gallows he built for Mordecai!
No weapon fashioned against you will prevail, Isaiah 54:17, and
Whoever digs a pit, he will fall into it, Proverbs 26:27.
We have seen in this story how God set up the whole stage for this scene to play out and show how He knows what evil people are doing to attack His people, and how He is foiling all their plans.
And God's sense of humor is evident in this book.
We don't always see how He evens up the odds and gives the wicked their due in this life, but He does here.
There are still loose ends to be tied up, and God always finishes what He started. Tomorrow we'll see how He does this. I love a good ending!
O my Father, You are so good, so great, so smart and clever. Words fall short of Who You are.
I want to know You, Father; and You want me to know you. This little side story shows me a little more of Your character and personality.
Father, You have given me this whole body of writings: all the stories, all the sayings, all the teachings; to tell me Who You are. And even all this cannot come close to all You are!
Father, what You have revealed of Yourself, what my brain can comprehend, is no more than an itty-bitty drop of all the oceans of this Earth. And You are greater than that: You are all the aether that this Universe swims in. And even more.
We, all creation, is Your imagination! If You weren't thinking about us, we would not exist!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Esther 3 & 4
Chapter 3
This chapter tells us that this guy Haman got himself promoted by the king to a position of high importance and authority. His pride in this achievement caused him to make himself the enemy of the Jews. With his new found authority, he arranged for the destruction of all the Jews in King Xerxes' whole realm.
Chapter 4
This is when Mordecai finds out about this plot, and asks Hadassah to inform the king and ask for a solution. Now, anyone who approached the king without having been summoned was putting their life in their hands.
He tells her, Who knows whether you have come to this kingdom just for such a time as this? (V. 14).
So she asks for fasting (and prayer), showing her dependence on God for safety, and says, If I perish, I perish (V. 16).
These people are doing their best, trying to live godly lives in the midst of an evil, pagan nation.
Today's World is also a pagan nation, worshipping everything except God. But, like Mordecai and Hadassah, we also can seek God in all that we do, especially if we are called on to get out of our comfort zones.
It's always uncomfortable to reach outside the parameters of our own little worlds to seek God's will to do His works and find His people who don't know Him yet.
O Father, help me to be able to depend on You as much as Queen Esther did when she took a lethal chance to approach this foreign king; You gave her the courage to confidently do this thing that was outside her box of propriety.
Help me also to to be faithful to You and Your ways when I am in the midst of all the chaos that swirls around me in this fallen World.
It is You, my Lord and my God, who is in total control of everything You made. You will allow this World to "careen out of control" only so far, then You will simply flick Your finger to bring it right back to You, as a yo-yo on a string.
Until then, Father, strengthen me to follow in Your footsteps, not turning to the left or the right, not running ahead or lagging behind, not wandering off or pulling away. Keep my hand in Yours, and lead me in that hemmed-in path all the way into Your glory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
