Nehemiah 13
During my recent mission trip to Kenya, we conducted our devotional studies over the book of Nehemiah. Finishing up, I presented our thoughts on the final three chapters as we left the Ngaamba community for the last time.
What was interesting about studying Nehemiah in Kenya was the parallels that the story of Israel rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem had with the story that was being written during our mission trip (not to mention, we were helping our friends in Ngaamba build a wall). A community of people galvanized by a godly leader, hardship, resolve... the whole deal. It's a very inspirational story... at least until you get to chapter 13.
In this finale to the Nehemiah story, Nehemiah has to eventually leave Jerusalem to go back to the service of the King. He serves there for a while and later asks permission to return to Jerusalem, and he does not find the people in a great spiritual position... the priests and temple are not being supported, Jews are intermarrying with their enemies, and the priests have made alliances with men who made it their life pursuit to keep the wall destroyed and make Jerusalem a disgrace.
It's sad. It made Nehemiah mad. And the final chapter of Nehemiah story is one where the once victorious citizens of the city of God are severely reprimanded for backsliding.
There is no pretty bow on the end of this story, and one of the thoughts I had as I was preparing and delivering this devotion was that the people of Jerusalem probably experienced something very close to a "mountain top experience" in completing the rebuilding of the wall in 52 days, rediscovering the Law, and rededicating themselves to serving the True and Living God with tears. And then something happened... Nehemiah left? Time passed? People forgot? Whatever happened, it was clear that the people had a powerful experience with God but did not experience a transformation in their own hearts. As soon as time passed and the leader left, they were back to being... well, their old selves.
A thought I had later was that while we guys usually read the story of Nehemiah as an example of a great and courageous leader (and it definitely is!), I think there is another moral to this story that deserves our attention. This thought is that the story of the Jews in Nehemiah is the story of every one that goes on a mission trip, to a camp, has a season of life where God really rescues them from some crazy stuff, and is moved emotionally to rededicate our lives to serving him... but at the end of the day is not truly transformed at a heart level by God's spirit and as time passes, life happens, memory fades... we go back into the same habits, sins, and attitudes that we had before we had that experience. We had a great experience... but at a deep level we never really changed.
I was reminded of this a little today. Life has been really busy since returning from Kenya. Lots to do at work, social activities, and life in Atlanta has threatened to take (and can't say it hasn't completely failed to) my attention away from the lessons that God gave me and the burdens He put on my heart in Kenya. Today, going out to Second Saturday and seeing a number of peeps from my Kenya team and going out into the projects to bring life to an area of Atlanta that desperately needs to see hope, I was reminded that I need to engage in doing what God has called me as a Christian to do, which is to shine His light into a dark world so that others may see it, be attracted to Jesus, and seek Him out. The good news that makes change possible for us, where it was not happening for Jews 400+ B.C. is that God's spirit lives inside of us if we know God and that change IS possible. We need to, as Paul states in Romans: "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4) However, we do need to let God change us, and be sensitive to put ourselves into a position where He can influence our hearts and not just our external circumstances.
What was interesting about studying Nehemiah in Kenya was the parallels that the story of Israel rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem had with the story that was being written during our mission trip (not to mention, we were helping our friends in Ngaamba build a wall). A community of people galvanized by a godly leader, hardship, resolve... the whole deal. It's a very inspirational story... at least until you get to chapter 13.
In this finale to the Nehemiah story, Nehemiah has to eventually leave Jerusalem to go back to the service of the King. He serves there for a while and later asks permission to return to Jerusalem, and he does not find the people in a great spiritual position... the priests and temple are not being supported, Jews are intermarrying with their enemies, and the priests have made alliances with men who made it their life pursuit to keep the wall destroyed and make Jerusalem a disgrace.
It's sad. It made Nehemiah mad. And the final chapter of Nehemiah story is one where the once victorious citizens of the city of God are severely reprimanded for backsliding.
There is no pretty bow on the end of this story, and one of the thoughts I had as I was preparing and delivering this devotion was that the people of Jerusalem probably experienced something very close to a "mountain top experience" in completing the rebuilding of the wall in 52 days, rediscovering the Law, and rededicating themselves to serving the True and Living God with tears. And then something happened... Nehemiah left? Time passed? People forgot? Whatever happened, it was clear that the people had a powerful experience with God but did not experience a transformation in their own hearts. As soon as time passed and the leader left, they were back to being... well, their old selves.
A thought I had later was that while we guys usually read the story of Nehemiah as an example of a great and courageous leader (and it definitely is!), I think there is another moral to this story that deserves our attention. This thought is that the story of the Jews in Nehemiah is the story of every one that goes on a mission trip, to a camp, has a season of life where God really rescues them from some crazy stuff, and is moved emotionally to rededicate our lives to serving him... but at the end of the day is not truly transformed at a heart level by God's spirit and as time passes, life happens, memory fades... we go back into the same habits, sins, and attitudes that we had before we had that experience. We had a great experience... but at a deep level we never really changed.
I was reminded of this a little today. Life has been really busy since returning from Kenya. Lots to do at work, social activities, and life in Atlanta has threatened to take (and can't say it hasn't completely failed to) my attention away from the lessons that God gave me and the burdens He put on my heart in Kenya. Today, going out to Second Saturday and seeing a number of peeps from my Kenya team and going out into the projects to bring life to an area of Atlanta that desperately needs to see hope, I was reminded that I need to engage in doing what God has called me as a Christian to do, which is to shine His light into a dark world so that others may see it, be attracted to Jesus, and seek Him out. The good news that makes change possible for us, where it was not happening for Jews 400+ B.C. is that God's spirit lives inside of us if we know God and that change IS possible. We need to, as Paul states in Romans: "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4) However, we do need to let God change us, and be sensitive to put ourselves into a position where He can influence our hearts and not just our external circumstances.
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