SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/30/2011 7:56:43 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “We Must Obey The
Word”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 8:13-18
Message of the verses: “13 Then
on the second day the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the
priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain
insight into the words of the law. 14 They found written in the law how the
LORD had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths
during the feast of the seventh month. 15 So they proclaimed and circulated a
proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the
hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm
branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is
written." 16 So the people went out
and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their
courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water
Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The entire assembly of those
who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of
Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that
day. And there was great rejoicing. 18 He read from the book of the law of God
daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven
days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the
ordinance.”
I
believed that I mentioned in an earlier SD that the celebration of the Day of
Atonement was on the first day of the seventh month, but that is not correct as
it was celebrated on the tenth day of the month and the Feast of Tabernacles is
celebrated from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of the month. With that said there was not much time to get
the word out to the people to gather the branches that were needed in order to
celebrate the feast as described in this passage.
One
of the themes that has been present in this eight chapter of Nehemiah is joy
and that has been a discussion point for the last couple of days. The theme of the book of Philippians is joy
as that word joy or joyful is used many times throughout the book of
Philippians. After the Law was read to
these Jewish exiles they were convicted and filled with sorrow, but now because
of this celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles they were filled with joy. Dr. Wiersbe writes “To the believer without
joy the will of God is punishment; but to the believer happy in the Lord the
will of God is nourishment.”
As
one looks at these verses they will see a revival that is happening to these
people. The question is raised will this
revival last? The answer is no it will
not last, but it is good to have a revival.
The famous evangelist Billy Sunday was asked if revivals lasted to which
he replied “No neither does a bath; but it’s good to have one occasionally!”
The
Lord Jesus used an illustration of joy as a woman who has just had a baby, and
even though the birth was very painful this same painful experience produced
joy in her life because of the birth of her baby. “20 "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you
will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief
will be turned into joy. 21
"Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has
come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the
anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 “Therefore
you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you (John 16:20-22).” Dr. Wiersbe writes “The difficult circumstances of life are
‘pregnant’ with joy, and by faith we must give that joy time to be born.” He goes on to say, “The world’s joy is
temporary and artificial; and when the joy is gone, people are left with even
greater weakness and emptiness. But the
joy that comes from the Lord is real and lasting and enriches our lives. God doesn’t give us joy instead
of sorrow, or joy in spite of sorrow,
but joy in the midst of sorrow. It is not substitution
but transformation.”
I
mentioned in an earlier SD that the Feast of Tabernacles was a time for the
children of Israel to look back at the wanderings in the wilderness by their
forefathers, but it was more than that.
It was also a time of looking around at the harvest that God had given
them, for after all this celebration took place during the time of
harvest. This feast was also a time of
looking forward to the kingdom age which will be a glorious and joyful time.
This
celebration was not only a joyful time but a time of enrichment and
encouragement too. Nehemiah 8:10 says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
This
celebration described in these verses had never been celebrated like this since
the days of Joshua, but it surely had been celebrated before.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have written before that it seems to me
that joy has not been one of the things that have been present in my life to
the way that it should be. I do know
that giving to others produces joy in my life and I hope that learning about
joy as I have researched this chapter will help produce more joy in my life in
the way that the Bible teaches that it should be there.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue
to learn about biblical joy.
2.
Continue
to learn contentment.
8/30/2011 8:49:46 AM
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