SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2011 8:15:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Threats: “We Will Protect Your Life.”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 6:10-14
Message of the verses: “10 When I entered the house of Shemaiah the
son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, "Let
us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the
doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to
kill you at night." 11 But I said, "Should a man like me flee? And
could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go
in." 12 Then I perceived
that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this reason,
that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might
have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. 14 Remember, O my
God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah
the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.”
One
can surely see that the book of Nehemiah is about leadership for Nehemiah is
seen as a great leader throughout this entire book. How Nehemiah handles these threats and
conflicts that came his way shows all who read this book how a good leader
should handle these types of problems.
The
portion that I have highlighted from verse twelve is remarkable to me in that
Nehemiah could perceive that this was a set up.
The question arises as to how did Nehemiah perceive that this was a set
up and the answer is really very clear.
Let’s take a look at two different verses from the book of Deuteronomy
to help understand the answer to this question:
“1 "If a prophet or a
dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the
sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ’Let
us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find
out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 "You shall follow the LORD your God and
fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him,
and cling to Him. 5 "But that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has
counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of
Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in
which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from
among you (Deuteronomy 13:1-4).” 20 ’But
the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not
commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that
prophet shall die.’ 21 “You may say in your heart, ’How will we know the word
which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does
not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken.
The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him
(Deuteronomy 18:20-22).”
One
of the characteristics of a good leader is that he will not run in the face of
trouble and this is demonstrated by what the Lord Jesus said in John 10:12-13 “12 “He who is a hired hand, and not a
shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves
the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 “He flees
because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” Nehemiah had a great responsibility as
governor of Judah and Jerusalem and he would not be intimidated by these false
prophets, but just the same this had to weigh on him as this kinds of thing
began to build. His strength came from
the Lord and we cans see the sixth of his telegraph prayers to the Lord in
verse fourteen.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In order to have a good prayer life one must
know the Word of God and Nehemiah did know the Word of God. I have a desire to be able to perceive things
like Nehemiah did and one of the ways that he could do this was his knowledge
of the Word. I have a desire to have a
better and more accurate prayer life, one like Nehemiah and also Daniel and
Ezra had for they are great examples for me to learn from.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to learn contentment.
2.
Know more about the Word so my prayer life will get
better.
8/19/2011 9:19:01 AM
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