SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2011 10:43:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Submission
to the Word
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 10:1-27,29
Message of the verses: “1 Now on the sealed document were the names of:
Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the
priests. 9 And the Levites: Jeshua the
son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; 10 also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah,
Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14 The leaders of the people: Parosh,
Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15
Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah,
Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,
18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah. 29 are
joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse
and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant,
and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His
ordinances and His statutes;”
We
now move into chapter Ten of Nehemiah’s book and also Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
on Nehemiah “Be Determined.” Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “After We Say Amen,” and as usual in
his introduction to a chapter he tells the reader what he can expect to find in
that chapter. He writes the following as
part of his introduction to this chapter, “But was their dedication real? There are at least three evidences given in
this chapter that these people really meant what they prayed. These
same evidences will be seen in our lives if our promises to the Lord are
sincere.”
He
also tells a funny, but meaningful story at the beginning of this chapter about
a man who always ended his prayer with these words “Lord clean the cobwebs out
of my life clean the cobwebs out of my life.”
Another man who had heard this ending to the prayer became kind of upset
because there never seemed to be any change in the man’s life so one day while
this first man was praying his usual ending to his prayer this second man
interrupted with these words, “And while you’re at it , Lord, kill the
spider.” The man was not sincere about
his prayers, but the people who we have just meet in chapter nine were sincere
about their prayer and that evidence will be seen as we work our way through
chapter ten.
We
begin this commentary on chapter ten with the listing of 84 names of people who
would sign a document to keep the Law that was written by Moses, and the first
person’s name on the list was the governor of Jerusalem, Nehemiah. The list also included priests, Levites, and
leaders of the people, and there were many who did not sign the document that
subscribed to the covenant including wives and children who didn’t have the
legal right to put a personal seal on an official document. This would include all the people who had heard
the Word of God as seen in chapter eight.
We
read about the seriousness of signing this covenant from words that these
people may have heard, “10 ‘You stand
today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your
elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your
wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood
to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant with
the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you
today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He
may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deu. 29:10-13).”
There
is a portion of Scripture that speaks of the seriousness of taking a vow before
the Lord, “’If a man makes a vow to the
LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not
violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The question came up as to whether or not
believers in the NT should make vows to the Lord and Dr. Wiersbe points out
that the relationship in the NT between believer’s and God is that of a child
to a father, and therefore it is not necessary to make vows to the Lord. I will say that early in my Christian life I
was struggling a lot in reading the Word of God each day and while attending a
conference in October of 1980 the speaker asked if anyone would like to make a
vow to the Lord that they would read His Word at least five minutes every day,
and I did make that vow to the Lord because I wanted to make sure that I stayed
in His Word each day of my life. There
probably have been eight or ten days that I have missed doing this vow that I
made in the almost thirty-one years since I made it, but as I look back on it,
it was a very important step of faith that I took and God has honored it many
times over.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to read the Bible each day of my life.
2.
Continue to have a prayer time each day of my life.
3.
Continue to seek to learn contentment for my life.
9/5/2011 11:20:16 AM
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