SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/5/2011 7:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The People in the Work”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Various verses in chapter three of
Nehemiah
Message of the verses: I am looking at a third main point in Warren
Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Nehemiah and as explained in a earlier SD
his outline and commentary on chapter three of Nehemiah is a bit different than
the pattern that he follows in his “Be” book series, as he generally follows
the chapter verses and comments on either a section of verses or a verse by
itself. In today’s SD I will look at
some of the people who were working on the wall of Jerusalem, different groups
of people and individual people. As it
has been in the previous SD’s covering chapter three the commentary will lend
itself to the church, and people who are in the church. Dr. Wiersbe writes in the introduction to
this third main point the following: “As
you get acquainted with the various people mentioned in Nehemiah 3, you will
find yourself saying, ‘This is just like the church today!’ Circumstances change but human nature remains
pretty much the same.” With that said I
will proceed with the first sub-point entitled “God uses all kinds of people.”
In
various verses of chapter three we find different kinds of people mentioned
from priests in verse one and also verses 12-19, we see men and also women,
(v-12), there were professional craftsmen as seen in verses 8 & 32, there
were even people from outside the city verses 2, 5, 7. On this job there was a place for all who
came to do the work, that is the people of Israel.
“Leaders
must set the example.” Nehemiah
3:1 “1Then Eliashib the high priest
arose with his brothers the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated
it and hung its doors. They consecrated the wall to the Tower of the Hundred
and the Tower of Hananel.”
At
this stage of the high priest’s life he was setting a good example as a leader
by going out and doing manual labor which I am sure would help bring out other
people as they saw his good example and the example of the priests. We will run into some people who thought they
were too good to work on this project, and yet we find in the Scriptures that
Paul was a tent maker and Jesus was a carpenter, good examples to follow. Latter in the life of Eliashib his grandson
would marry a daughter of Sanballat and then his alliance would turn to the
enemy.
“Some people will not work” Nehemiah 3:5 “5 Moreover, next to him the Tekoites made
repairs, but their nobles
did not support the work of their masters.” The Tekoites built in two places on the wall
however their nobles refused to work. I
did mention this in the last point that there would be people who did not work. The Tekoites lived outside of Jerusalem, so
they came a ways to even do the work.
“Some
people do more work than others” Nehemiah 3:11, 19, 21, 24, 27,
30.
“11 Malchijah
the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section
and the Tower of Furnaces.
“19 Next to him
Ezer the son of Jeshua, the official of Mizpah, repaired another section in
front of the ascent of the armory at the Angle.
“21 After him
Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another section, from the
doorway of Eliashib’s house even as far as the end of his house.
“24 After him
Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah
as far as the Angle and as far as the corner.
“27 After them
the Tekoites repaired another section in front of the great projecting tower
and as far as the wall of Ophel.
“30 After him
Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired
another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah carried out repairs
in front of his own quarters.”
The
people who are listed in these verses asked for additional assignments when they
finished the assignment than they were first given. This is a good example, for these people were
using their abilities to get the total job done, not just being satisfied with
a little, they had more energy to continue on with the work. Many of them were working close to their
homes so they did not have to travel very far to work and by doing this they
were protecting their homes. This is a
good example to follow for believers as they can do the work of the Lord in
their neighborhoods.
“Some
people work harder than others” Nehemiah 3:20 “20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired
another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the
high priest.” I looked up the word
“zealously” in the Hebrew dictionary and in most cases the word is used in what
would be a negative way like burning with anger, something along those lines,
but in this case it means that Baruch had a lot of energy to burn, and he used
that by doing more and more work. Dr.
Wiersbe points out a couple of verses that go along with this section: Eccl. 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there
is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.” Eph. 6:5-8 “5 Slaves, be obedient to those
who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the
sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as
men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7
With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever
good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether
slave or free.” The final verse he
chose is a great verse and is found in Proverbs 8:9 and I want to use a couple
of different translations when I copy
this verse: “He also who is slack in his work Is brother to him who destroys”
(NASB). “A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things” (NLT). He who does not give his mind to his work is
brother to him who makes destruction” (BBE).
“Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism” (Message).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In past SD’s I have mentioned what has become
one of my favorite verse in the NT, which is Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would
walk in them.” In verse nine Paul
writes that we are not saved by works that is our good works, but then in verse
ten he writes that God has already prepared our work in eternity past.
Now
work is what this particular SD has focused on and that is why I bring up this
verse. Before God created the earth or
angels or anything there was a conversation between the members of the Trinity
that mentioned the work that was planned for each believer to do that would
glorify God. There was also work
discussed that the second Person of the godhead would accomplish in order for
believers to be able to accomplish their work, which is the work of Jesus
Christ on the cross to pay the price for my salvation. The question arises as to how do I accomplish
this work that God has prepared for me to do?
I think that the answer can be found in the 15th chapter of
John’s gospel where Jesus is speaking to His disciples about the Vine, the branches,
and the Vinedresser, along with speaking about fruit, more fruit, and much
fruit. The work that God has prepared
for me as a believer in Jesus Christ to do has to be done through the power of
the Holy Spirit, and this can only be done as I stay close to the Vine, the
Lord Jesus Christ. There will be times
when the Vinedresser, God the Father must do some cutting and pinching on me in
order to make me more fruitful for the cause of Christ, and at that time it may
be very hard on me, yet necessary. I believe
that I am going through one of those times with some circumstances in my life
at this time and all I can say is that it is not pleasant, but I am sure
necessary.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to stay close to the vine.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Trust the Lord to work out all of the details of our
leaving Kauai and going back to Ohio. (A
big one)
4.
Romans 12:1-2
5.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (necessary)
8/5/2011
8:30:02 AM
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