"He Cared Enough to Pray" (Neh. 1:5-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 07/27/2011 7:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “He Cared Enough to Pray”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Nehemiah 1:5-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6  let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 “We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ 10 “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.”

 

            One of the reasons that I use Dr. Wiersbe’s “Be” books to aid me in my study of God’s word is that he can make some of the difficult things of the Bible come alive, but he can also see passages that I would probably read and get little out of and make them too come alive.  There is another reason and that is I like some of the sayings that he comes up with and some of the sayings that others have said and he quotes.  Today’s SD begins with two of those quotes.  The first is by a Scottish novelist Gorge MacDonald and he said “In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeeded more miserably.”  The next quote is by a man named Alan Redpath and he said “There is too much working before men and too little waiting before God.”  I find this true in my life on certain occasions because I have always been a man, who has been in a hurry, but it is great for me that I married a woman who takes her time and I have learned from her even though at times it has been hard for me to learn.

           

            There are twelve instances of prayer recorded in the book of Nehemiah, for he was a praying man, and this is the first.  The book begins with and ends with prayer.  Nehemiah was a man who did well what God had planned for him to do and because his faith and prayer life he succeeded in what God called for him to do.

           

            When His disciples asked Jesus how to pray He began with praise to His heavenly Father, “Our Father who art in heaven,” and Nehemiah uses the term “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God.”  Ezra used this title four times and it is also found four times in Nehemiah, while Daniel used it three times.  This is how all of God’s children should begin their prayers.

           

            Nehemiah was experiencing great affliction and was about to do a great work and so he needed the power of the great God of heaven, the God who spoke and created the heavens and the earth, the seas and dry lands, the fish in the sea and the animals on the land, and He also created man from the dust of the earth and woman from the rib of the man.  Why would we pray to another?  Dr. Wiersbe asks “Is the God you worship big enough to handle the challenges that you face?”

           

            Nehemiah then begins to quote part of the covenant that God made with the children of Israel, and this is something that both Ezra and Daniel did in their prayers to the Lord.  It is certain that the Lord remembers the Words that He has written, but it is important to pray Scripture back to the Lord, of this importance I am learn more about each day.

           

            Nehemiah was a man like Ezra who knew the OT Scriptures and this is a great example for every believer to follow, for the Scripture is the very Word of God that He has given to His children.  Those who do not know the Lord will not be able to understand the Word of God for it was written to believers.  Through his knowledge of the Word of God Nehemiah knew that the children of Israel had sinned and that is why they became exiles and were living in Babylon under Persian rule.  Some of the exiles had moved back to Jerusalem, and this was part of what the Lord had promised in His Word.  Nehemiah now learns of some of the disturbing things that were going on in Jerusalem and this drives him to his knees in prayer confessing the sins of Israel and like Ezra and Daniel he includes himself in those sins. He was identifying himself with the sins of a generation he didn’t even know.  Nehemiah did not use the words “they sinned” and that is why we are in this fix.  I have heard it said that it is better to fact find than fault find.  In the movie Apollo 13 the man in charge told his crew, when they learned of this great problem they had to “work the problem.”  I believe that fact finding and working the problem are good things to do otherwise we could be fault finding and not working the problem and then nothing will get accomplished.  Nehemiah was fact finding and he was working the problem by talking to the God of Heaven.

           

            One thing you can see in the prayer from Nehemiah is that he was confident.  He had confidence in the power of his God. I believe that his confidence in his God came from the Word of his God.  Nehemiah had a desire to go and to rebuild Jerusalem and he knew that he did not have the strength to do it, but he knew that his God had the strength to accomplish this through him.  “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

           

            Nehemiah was confident that his God would raise up others to help to do this work, for he was unlike Elijah who though that he was the only one to accomplish something for the Lord.  Nehemiah was also confident that the Lord would work in the heart of Artaxerxes to allow him to go to Jerusalem to begin this work.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “To often, we plan our projects and then ask God to bless them; but Nehemiah didn’t make that mistake.  He sat down and wept (Neh. 1:4), knelt down and prayed, and then stood up and worked because he knew he had the blessing of the Lord on what he was doing.”  Great example for all of God’s children to follow!

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Following this great example of Nehemiah’s prayer is something that has been enlightening to me as I studied this passage.  Waiting is something that I have never been good at, but something that I am learning.  The saying “don’t put the cart before the horse” is a good example to follow when doing the work of the Lord, for I am to follow the Lord and not get into a hurry and go before him.  That is something that Saul did and it got him in a lot of trouble.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     I believe that learning contentment is similar to learning patience.  Both of them can bring things into my life that will cause me to have contentment and be patience.

2.     Wait upon the Lord.

 

7/27/2011 8:57:16 AM

"He Cared Enough to Weep" (Nehemiah 1:4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2011 7:53:24 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: “He Cared Enough to Weep”

 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nehemiah 1:4

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”

           

            In his commentary on this one verse Dr. Wiersbe writes: “What makes people laugh or weep is often an indication of character.  People who laugh at others’ mistakes or misfortunes, or who weep over trivial personal disappointments, are lacking either in culture or character, and possibly both.”  This statement got me to thinking so I looked up some of these different words in the Bible to see how many times they were used, and glanced at the verses to see what the situation was about for using them.  Weeping is used in the NASB95 56 times, wept is used 64 times, weep is used 50 times, cry is used 141 times, crying is used 32 times, and cried is used 124 times.  There are times when some of these words are in the same verse.  Crying can mean that someone is either upset or happy depending on the circumstance that they are crying over.  There is no use of any of these words in the first three chapters of Genesis and this is important to me because the fall happened in the third chapter of Genesis so there was no weeping when things were perfect, before sin.  In Revelations 21:4 we read:  “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’”  The first things have passed away refer to the destruction of the heavens and the earth by the Lord.  This takes place after the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth and after all of the judgments are completed.  At this point the New Jerusalem and new earth are seen and so everything is perfect again after this point and the verse says there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, so this is the last time we see any of these types of words in the Scripture.

           

            According to the people who study the Bible, who are scholars of the Bible the first time that a word is found in the Scriptures is important.  Genesis 4:10 is the earliest any of these words are found and the verse reads as follows, “He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.”  This of course is speaking of Abele’s blood and the killing of Abel by his brother Cain.

           

            The word laugh is used only twelve times in the Scriptures.  Laughter is used only eight times.  Happy is only used fourteen times in the Bible and only once in the NT.  I suppose that we may be able to conclude that there is more unhappiness in the Scriptures than happiness, for there are more words to describe the emotions of sadness than gladness in the Bible.  I would also suppose that sin is the reason for these findings. 

                       

            As I glanced over these verses I find that there were times when people were crying over things that caused them emotional pain that could be described as something not worth crying or weeping over, “Eze. 8:14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.”  This meant that these women were worshiping idols in the house of the Lord.

           

            Now in today’s verse we see Nehemiah weeping because the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and also the people were in great distress.  Nehemiah knew that the walls were important to those who lived there for safety reasons and these walls were supposed to be completed before.  In the book of Ezra regarding the building of the walls one of the commentaries said that they could have already been built and then torn down again by and enemy.  That may have been the case or they may have never been finished at all. 

           

            When you look at the statement that Dr. Wiersbe makes that says the character of a person can be seen by what they cry about shows that Nehemiah surely had great character for he was weeping over things that would be upsetting to the Lord.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the way that weeping or wept is used in the Gospels I can say that most of the times if is used because of sin.  The results of sin can surely cause weeping and unhappiness.  What I take away from this is that I need to be more sensitive to sin in my life.  Not only when I sin, but when I see sin like in the case of Nehemiah’s weeping, for it was sin that caused the children of Israel to be defeated in the first place, and that is why they were in the position that they were in at that time and it caused Nehemiah emotional pain.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Be more sensitive over my sin and sin that I see, because who God is.

2.     Psalm 130:23-24

3.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

7/26/2011 9:35:37 AM

He Cared Enough to Ask (Nehemiah 1:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2011 8:06:54 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  He Cared Enough to Ask

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nehemiah 1:1-3

 

            Message of the verses: “1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, 2  that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.’”

           

            Today’s SD begins the study of the book of Nehemiah.  In my life as a new believer the 2^nd chapter of Nehemiah was one of the first passages of Scripture that I had heard of so it is with a glade heart that I begin this study of Nehemiah.  I can also remember while attending the church that I attended for 32 years that the first pastor that I sat under preached all the way through the book of Nehemiah and this is more found memories from this book.  Just recently I read a book by Charles Swindoll on the book of Nehemiah, and the theme of his writing on Nehemiah was “Leadership” for all one has to do is read through Nehemiah and they will be able to see his ability to lead.  I have read that when God wants to make something happen that He will call a great leader as can be seen throughout the Scriptures.  People like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David and a host of many others were great leaders that were called by the Lord for things that He wanted accomplished, and so it is with Nehemiah. 

           

            I want to give a few facts about the book of Nehemiah before going into commentary on the first three verses.  The author of the book of Nehemiah was Ezra, for in the LXX and Vulgate the book of Nehemiah is called “Second Ezra.”   There are other reasons, but I will leave it with that one.  The book was written using Nehemiah’s personal diary as much can be seen written in the first person. 

           

            Nehemiah was a cupbearer for the king of Persia and this job was a very important job, for it kept the king alive from someone trying to poison him, so Nehemiah had to be a man of great character and trust in order to have such a job.  It is certain that God had given him this job for a greater purpose.       

           

            The book begins in the 20^th year of King Artaxerxes Longimanus, which is late in the year 446 BC as the month of Chislev is November/December of our calendar. 

           

            Ester was the step-mother of King Artaxerxes Longimanus (see verse note from MacArthur study Bible on Ester 1:9).  Knowing this fact one can better understand some of the things that the king did as he would have gotten influence from his godly step-mother.  He would have also known the events that took place in the book of Ester as of the plight of the Jewish people.

            Nehemiah was the governor of Jerusalem for two terms and the first term takes place during the first twelve chapters of Nehemiah.  There is a gap of twenty years before the second term which probably ended in 410 BC, which is according to a record found in an ancient Egyptian document, “The Elephantine Papyri.”  In this book it shows that a new governor came to power in 410 BC named Bigvai.  This book is dated late 5^th century.

           

            The commentary for Nehemiah by Warren Wiersbe comes from the same “Be” book which he entitles “Be Heroic” and this covers Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester.  The title of the first chapter is “Does Anybody Really Care.”  As I think about that title it seems that a musical group called “Chicago” in the 70’s had a song entitled by that name.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe begins his commentary on Nehemiah with a quote by George Bernard Shaw’s play entitled “The Devil’s Disciple.”  “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.”  When one reads the parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke’s Gospel that was spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ they can assume that Jesus believed this statement too. 

           

            In these first three verses of Nehemiah chapter one we learn that Nehemiah cared enough to ask his brother how things were going with the remnant that were at Jerusalem.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Like large doors, great life-changing events can swing on very small hinges.”  That was the case with Nehemiah, and it was because that he cared about those exiles he asked the question and it was because of the answer that was given to him that his life was changed. 

           

            So begins the book of Nehemiah with a question and as I begin this study I hope to find out not only the answer to that question as Nehemiah experiences it first hand, but also how the events that happened almost 2500 years ago will affect my life in 21^st century America.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this first main point with these words:  “Are we like Nehemiah, anxious to know the truth even about the worst situations?  Is our interest born of concern or idle curiosity?  When we read missionary prayer letters, the news in religious periodicals, or even in our church’s ministry reports, do we want the facts, and do the facts burden us?  Are we the kind of people who care enough to ask?”  

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I ponder all of the questions that Dr. Wiersbe writes in his last statement on the commentary of the first three verses of Nehemiah chapter one I would have to answer yes and no.  Yes I care about certain things, and no I don’t seem to care about all of the important things that he mentions.  I thought that I would stop getting my toes stepped on after finishing the last two chapters of Ezra, but not the case.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     I wish to pray that the Lord would begin to change my heart so that it would be more like the “Good Samaritan.”

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

7/25/2011 9:46:30 AM 

Cleansing: An Obedient People (Ezra 10:9-44)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2011 7:23:34 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Cleansing: An Obedient People

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Ezra 10:9-44

 

            Message of the verses:  “9  So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. 10  Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. 11  "Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives." 12  Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, "That’s right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do. 13  "But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. 14  "Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us."

    “15 ¶  Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. 16  But the exiles did so. And Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. 17  They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month. 18  Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. 19  They pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their offense. 20  Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah; 21  and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah; 22  and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah. 23  Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer. 24  Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri. 25  Of Israel, of the sons of Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah; 26  and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah; 27  and of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza; 28  and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai; 29  and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth; 30  and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh; 31  and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32  Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah; 33  of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei; 34  of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, 35  Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36  Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37  Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, 38  Bani, Binnui, Shimei, 39  Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, 40  Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41  Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42  Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. 43  Of the sons of Nebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah. 44  All these had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.”

 

            I wish to, at the beginning of this portion of the SD show the dates of when all this happened in the Julian calendar so it can be better understood when this occurred.  The first meeting in the rain that may have took place at the Water Gate where Ezra later expounded the Law to the people as seen in Nehemiah 8:1 and following.  The date was December 19, 458 BC. It was because of the rain and the subject matter the people were trembling and so it was agreed to meet at a later day, but before that happened Ezra would again appoint a number of people to investigate the problem of mix marriages and this would take three months for their results to come about.  It was good for Ezra to involve others in this matter for he had just arrived and the leaders whom were appointed to do this investigation had been there for a long time, perhaps all of their lives as it was eighty years since Zerubbable and Joshua had brought the first exiles to Jerusalem. 

           

            Ten days after this meeting the committee began to meet and this was on December 29, 458 BC.  On March 27, 457 BC their work would be completed and the names of the people involved are listed in this last chapter of Ezra.  In verse fifteen of Ezra 10 there are four names who protested against how this matter should be taken care of. 

           

            Many of the people who had sinned by taking foreign wives were leaders of Israel; some were priests, Levites, and also singers.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “When spiritual leaders begin to sin, it doesn’t take long for other people to follow.”  The total of offenders was over 100 and even though this was perhaps one percent of all the people there it was still sin against the Lord and needed to be cared for.  “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good,” (Ec. 9:18). 

           

            The guilty priest promised to put away their foreign wives and offered sacrifices to the Lord for their sins and God in His graciousness forgave their sins.  It is hoped that the others on this list would follow the example of the priests and be forgiven too.  This still would cause a problem for the wives, who would be sent back to their families along with their children.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “It’s easy to pull the nails out of the board, but it’s impossible to pull out the holes that they leave behind.”  Sound words for situations like this.  Sin always causes problems even though people can be forgiven by the Lord the ramifications of their sins are still around.

           

            This problem would come again to the exiles some thirteen years later and it can be seen in Nehemiah 13:23-31.

           

            In the second chapter of Ezra there is a list of names of Jewish exiles willing to leave their homes and return to Jerusalem, and the book of Ezra ends with a list of people willing to repent of their sins publicly cleansing the land of their sin.

           

            Twenty-one days ago I began this study of Ezra as part of my devotions to the Lord.  It has been a good study for me to do and I am one more book closer to my goal of studying every book in the Bible.  I have decided to share this adventure with others and my prayer is that all who have been a part of this will be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that in my life I would rather not have to pull so many nails of of boards, but be more like Ezra in following the commands of the Lord, as these will surely set me free.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Continue to learn contentment even though the path is difficult to follow.

7/24/2011 8:14:38 AM

Cooperation: A Willing People (Ezra 10:1-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2011 7:14:52 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  Cooperation: A Willing People

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Ezra 10:1-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “1  Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 “So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 “Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act." 5 Then Ezra rose and made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this proposal; so they took the oath. “6 Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. 7 They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles.”

 

            Ezra was sitting in the temple where the evening offering had been sacrificed, yet Ezra wept over the sinfulness of the children of Israel.  David wrote two Psalms after his sin with Bathsheba, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 and the 17^th verse of Psalm 51 gives insight into what may have been going through the mind and heart of Ezra at this time:  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

           

            James the brother of the Lord wrote something about the power of prayer, and at this time Ezra was weeping, and he was praying over the sins of Israel.  James writes in 5:16-18 “16  Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”  Ezra was a righteous man praying an effective prayer over the sins of Israel and like Elijah in the past it would make a difference.  Ezra’s prayers were answered as Shecaniah came to him with many people who were weeping too and gave encouragement to Ezra telling him that the responsibility was his to do to these people what had to be done, but they would be with him. 

           

            James writes in his letter what God’s formula for a revival is and what he wrote can be seen here in this passage.  James 4:9-10 “9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up,” (NKJV).  “9 Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. 10  Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet,” (Message). In verse nine the NKJ uses the word “Lament” while the message says “hit bottom,” and the NASB uses the words “Be miserable” and in the Hebrew dictionary the meaning of this word is “to toil heavily, to endure labours and hardships.”  I would seem to me that this was what Ezra was going through as he was getting very serious with God over the sins of the children of Israel and his prayer would be effective.

           

            It can be seen in Ezra 10:26 that Shecaniah had realities who were involved in this sinfulness of marrying foreign wives, yet that did not stop him from leading a group of people to Ezra and give encouragement to Ezra that this situation must be dealt with. 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following:  “The plan was simple but demanding.  First, the nation would corporately covenant to obey God’s law.  Then, Ezra and a group of men who ‘trembled at the Word would decide how the matter would be settled; and the people promised to obey whatever was decreed.  But everything had to be done according to the Law of Moses.”

           

            Ezra would now retreat into one of the rooms of the temple and he would fast and pray over this matter, but before he did this he appointed a committee to help out in what was must be done (V-5).  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following as he addresses this: “Wise is the leader who involves other people in the process, especially when the issue is so sensitive.” 

           

             The committee would then issue a proclamation that would state that all Israel would come to Jerusalem and those who did not come could lose their property.

           

            The process that is seen here, a humble praying leader, and a willing people, along with a faithful and courageous committee who worked together to accomplish a difficult task is something that should be followed in the church today.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The study of this wonderful book of Ezra has gone quick, as there is only one more section to finish it, and yet these last two chapter have made me stop and take inventory of my life and this is what the Word of God is to do, and again I go back to the verse in Hebrews that explains this process:  “For the Word that God speaks is alive and active; it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword: it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man’s being: it examines the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart,” (Philips).  Psalm 139:23-24 is also two verses that have gone through my mind as I study chapters nine and ten of Ezra: “23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     I want to think about the truths that I have been learning from these two chapters.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

7/23/2011 8:20:28 AM

 

We are Guilty (Ezra 9:13-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2011 7:51:05 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  We are Guilty

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ezra 9:13-15

 

               Message of the verses:  “13 "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, 14 shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? 15  "O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.’”

 

            Ezra knew the Word of God and because he knew the Word of God he knew that they were guilty.  As written in an earlier SD Ezra includes himself in this prayer for he uses the personal pronouns we, and our throughout this short prayer of repentance to the Lord.  In his prayer he tells the Lord that in affect He has shown great mercy for His children, and could have punished them more.  One could ask the question why did not God destroy the people of Israel, after all they had followed the same sinful practices as the people that were judged when Israel came into the land, for we learned yesterday that God was patience for a long time with the Canaanite people, but then because of His attribute of being Judge, God destroyed them.  You will not find any Canaanite people around the Middle East today, but you will find Israelites there, for once again Israel is a nation after over 2500 years God has called them back into their land that He has given to them.  So why did He not destroy them?  I know that God loves Israel.  I know that God chose Israel. I know that God made a covenant with Israel.  I know that God is not finished with Israel.  I know that God has a plan for Israel.  I know that God will again discipline Israel again and then cause “all Israel to be saved.”  26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins (Romans 11:26-27 NKJV).”

           

            I wish to conclude this SD with a fairly long quote from Dr. Wiersbe as he sums up this 2^nd main point from his commentary “Be Heroic,” that actually covers Ezra, Nehemiah and Ester.  “Before we try to untangle the problems of life, we must take time to seek God’s face in prayer.  This is not a long prayer.  It can be read aloud very deliberately in only a few minutes, but it has tremendous depth.  Charles Spurgeon used to say that it was the strength of our prayers, not the length of our prayers, that was important; and he was right.  When you pray from a burdened heart, with a mind that’s saturated with God’s Word, then God will hear and answer.”

           

            I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that this thought about praying Scripture to God for ourselves and for other people in our lives that we are praying for was reinforced a few weeks back by my sister and I am thankful for her prayer life and her guidance in my life about prayer.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is a wonderful verse in Hebrews, a verse that many believers have put to memory that has been going over and over in my mind as I worked my way through the very wonderful, thought provoking, convicting prayer.  “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). 

           

            As I think of the passage of the Vine and the branches along with the Vine Dresser, something that I have recently studied, I feel like the Vine Dresser (The Father) has been using His knife to cut away some of the unneeded parts that have been getting in the way of producing “fruit” for the glory of the Lord, and this prayer in the ninth chapter of Ezra seems to be part of the using of His knife as spoken of in Hebrews 4:12 along with John 15.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     I know in my heart and believe that even though the use of God’s sharp knife is something that is necessary for me at this time and so I must, by faith submit to its use.

2.     Continue to learn contentment as this too is part of that process.

3.     Trust that the Lord will use my life as He sees fit.

 

7/22/2011 8:34:43 AM