Nehemiah 13:10-13

Ten years had changed many things. Tobiah had moved into the temple property, and the storehouse had been converted into bedrooms for him and his family. With a righteous indignation, Nehemiah drove the scorning enemy out of the temple and out of the city.
As he came to the fields outside the city, Nehemiah noticed that the Levites and the temple singers were in the fields tilling and sowing. Their job was to oversee the ministry of God’s house, not to work in fields. They were called to do a specific job, and others were to provide for their needs, but since no one had provided them with food, they had been forced to sow and harvest their own crops. This meant that there would be times when the workload was so great that no one would be doing the functions of the temple. There would be no sacrifices for sin. There would be no singing to God. There would be no worshipping God. The ministers would be too busy with the common every day grind of harvesting crops that they would not be able to do the greater eternal work.
Nehemiah rushed into the temple property and called together the rulers of the people. He showed them the dilemma, and re-established the system whereby people would provide for the workers of God. God’s work must get done. People must contribute. God was too great to be ignored.
At times, we get too busy with the menial that we fail to see the eternal. Sadly, everyone becomes so focused on their own goals, that God’s desires are sidelined. The question of “What do you want to do with your life?” has replaced the greater, “What do you think God would have you do?” The temporal is often so shiny and flashy, that our eyes are distracted from the eternal.
Perhaps we need to widen our spiritual eyes. We need to have eternal vision like Nehemiah. We must be able to see the eternal component in all the things we do. We must view our interactions, and our desires as kingdom building, or kingdom inhibiting. God’s ongoing eternal work is too valuable to be forgotten and neglected.

Food For Thought: How can we view our daily menial tasks with eternal vision?

Nehemiah 13:1-9

Ten years passed after the dedication of the city of Jerusalem. For the past decade Nehemiah had been fulfilling his duty in the palace of Artexerxes.
When we arrive at Nehemiah 13, we find Nehemiah taking a vacation back to Jerusalem to see how things had been going.
No doubt, he longed to see God’s people thriving, and worshipping. He looked forward to arriving at the temple to hear the singers proclaiming God’s glory. He longed to hear the bustle and braying of the busy city, as people moved inside the walls of God’s protection that he himself had labored on.
When Nehemiah arrived back at the city, everything seemed as normal. The people hurriedly scurried about the city taking care of their daily business. All seemed well.
But the honeymoon phase didn’t last very long. As he explored the city, it came to his attention that the enemy of God had moved into one of the warehouse rooms on the back of the temple.
Tobiah, the Ammonite scorner from the beginning of the story, had found his way into the city. The worst part of his coming into the city wasn’t that he had sneaked into the city unawares of the priests, rather, the high priest, Eliashib, had invited him in. In “good ole boy” fashion, the scorner had even been allowed to enter the holy temple property. But why? Why would the one whose express job was to maintain the holiness and purity of the property allow someone to come and live there, when not even common Israelites were allowed to live there?
One song writer called it the “slow fade,” – that gradual regressive movement from doing what is right to that place some time later where you realize you haven’t been doing what’s right any more. Often we can find ourselves doing the exact thing that Eliashib did here in the temple property.
We know what is right. As a matter of fact, we have seasons of excited fervor, where we meditate on and celebrate God’s goodness. It doesn’t take too long, and we slowly lose our zeal. The new complacency becomes acceptance, and acceptance is followed by folly. We wouldn’t have dreamed of making the foolish decision in the midst of our God-driven zeal, but after dropping a couple of ice-cubes in the spiritual coffee, that bad decision just felt normal.
But we cannot accept the new normal. We must fight and war for what is right in our lives. With the fervor of Nehemiah, we must drive the spiritual enemies of indifference and complacency from our lives. We must daily with a spiritual vigor strive to purify ourselves and dedicate our lives to God. We cannot afford to become casualties of the “slow fade.”

Food For Thought: In what ways can we find ourselves slowly fading into what is wrong?

Nehemiah 12:44-47

As Nehemiah 12 closes, we find a special group of individuals with one of the most thankless jobs. With the goings on of a city, there would inevitably be jobs created that were less forefront and accolade-laden, and more monotonous and laborious. Whether it was the position as gatekeeper where everyone knew your name, or the role of priest where people handed their sacrifices to you daily, or even the singers that travelled around the city, singing praises to God, it seemed like all the parts of the city were highly visible and everyone knew everyone. But there was a hidden cog and wheel job. It was not showy or flattering. Like the gears that drive the hands of a watch, these workers were never noticed, but their work was absolutely crucial.
These men worked in the temple warehouse. Their entire job was to log the gifts for the Levites and place them on shelves in the storehouse. They were not at the front gate of the temple, rather they were behind the scenes. But how important the thankless job was! If it had not been for their diligent labor, the piles of goods and grains that came in would become awkward and inconvenient. The priests who were meant to offer sacrifices would have to stop sacrificing to sort through the pile. The singers whose job it was to constantly proclaim God’s grandeur would have to hush their song so they could find something to eat in the pile. This thankless job may have been unflattering, but it was undeniably important.
And this is how the Body of Christ is. There are seemingly thankless roles. At times, people are enamored by the singers or the ministers who are in front of the congregants or Sunday school classes. At times it seems that there is no other way to serve in a church than to teach a Sunday school or sing in the choir. But this just isn’t the case. There are countless other things that happen behind the scenes at a church. Some people use their gifts to serve (mow the lawn, change air filters, clean bathrooms, change light bulbs, build play sets, run a sound booth). Others use their gifts of encouragement (to say kind words, or write letters, or bake cookies). Others use their gifts of giving (time, finances, goods).
The danger of any believer is to think that if we are not in the limelight, we must not be serving God well. This is just not the case. God is glorified when we are diligent to use the gifts that His Spirit has equipped us with. We have been custom designed for the health of our local church. And just as the warehouse workers were vital to the success of the temple, God wants you to use your gifts in your local church.

Food For Thought: What human tendency do you think plays into our desire to always be in the limelight? How does Galatians 1:10 help shape our thinking in regards to this issue?

Nehemiah 12:31-43

Nehemiah wanted the dedication to go smoothly. It required a little bit of planning, but his intentionality was just the way he ensured that things would get done.
All the leaders of the Levites were assembled, and all of the head musicians came together. Nehemiah then started dividing all of the musicians and priests into different troops. They were going to dedicate every square inch of the city, and they would tackle this in differing parts.
This was not new to Nehemiah. As a matter of fact, Nehemiah was most likely borrowing the idea from the first time Jerusalem was dedicated to God under King David, nearly 1,000 years earlier. In that first dedication, David had assigned several groups of priests and singers to walk differing routes through the city so that they might proclaim how great God is, and how willing they were to use Jerusalem to always give Him praise.
Now Nehemiah drew up the order of service for the dedication. His having structure did not inhibit the worship of God, rather it ensured the worship of God. Often rigidity is accused of being the enemy of freedom. Especially when it comes to worship, people are very quick to cast stones at the lack of “wiggle room for the Holy Ghost” in a modern day church service. Some people see the routine of a church service as an impediment to the free working of the Holy Spirit. If they can’t find a problem with starting at a specific time, they will point out that perhaps God didn’t want the service to finish at a specific time. Two songs per service is too few for some, and too many for others. Why do we pray so many times? What is the point of announcing the things that are already in the bulletin? People can often get aggravated with the rigidity of the average church service.
But Nehemiah knew that the people of Jerusalem could be better equipped to worship God. He wanted to ensure that nothing was left undone in the magnifying of God. With deliberate steps of preparation, Nehemiah postured the inhabitants of the city to be able to exalt and praise God well.
At times, we need to be very specific about our personal worship of God. We need to set out specific times and places where we can gaze at His grandeur in the Bible. Perhaps you do not have any set time or place for consistent Bible intake. I strongly encourage for His glory and for your joy that you start today. I would even say, start right now.

Food For Thought: Reread Nehemiah 12:31-43. Read 1 Chronicles 23:5-6. How many groups did Nehemiah make? How many groups did David make? Why do you think the number was different?

Nehemiah 12:1-30

The wall was complete, and Jerusalem was surrounded with a constant visual reminder of God’s protection and provision. The families who had volunteered to move into the city had begun to relocate their belongings, and Jerusalem was quickly turning into a bustling city. For the next several days, the temple musicians began their practices to perfect their singing. Half-choruses rang through the city, as worship leaders honed their choirs into precise praise machines. The temple workers stoked the flames of the altar and the smoke of incense rose again to fill the temple. The gates of the city quickly became the arteries of business that they were designed to be. Porters guarded the gates with a watchful eye, carefully inspecting everyone who came into the city. Jerusalem was great again.
The city had become an emblem of the grace of a Sovereign God. Now, Governor Nehemiah called the people together to dedicate this great city to God. The city had been God’s gift to His people, and now the dedication of the city was going to be the people’s gift back to God. He was the God of Providence, now they wanted to publicly say that they acknowledged this as His great gift and that they wanted to use this gift to worship Him for ages to come.
God had placed something in their hands. They then took an intentional step to offer that thing back to God. They did not view Jerusalem as “their” city. They openly wanted all of the world to know that Jerusalem was and always would be God’s city. So what was their role? Their role was explicitly to maintain and steward what God had given them. It was in their hands, but it had His name on it.
We should have this same view with the gifts that God gives to us. All of our possessions, all of our relationships, all of our opportunities should be seen as gifts from the heart of a loving Sovereign. They were in His mind before they came into our hands. Knowing that every good gift is from our God, we should live in such a way that intimates this reality. From a heart of gratitude then, our words, our actions, our very motives should all point toward the deep inward reality that all is His, even if it may currently be in our hand.

Food for Thought: Read James 1:17. What does this verse say about the gifts that we receive?

Nehemiah 11:20-36

God seems to be “pro-music.” At the end of time, Revelation says everyone will gather around God’s throne, and true, deep, heartfelt worship for the great God of all the ages will begin. Singing. Praising. Worshipping. The Lord God Almighty will be praised for His greatness and goodness.
In Ephesians, Paul encouraged believers to minister to each other with spiritual songs and hymns. Singing was to be an elemental component of Christian gathering.
The gospel of Mark records that Jesus Himself led His disciples in a song to finish the last supper.
As if that is not enough, the longest book of scripture is Psalms, literally a book that is composed of worship song after worship song.
The Old Testament is replete with the songs about the victories that God had provided for His people over their enemies.
Music was the way to communicate His majesty. It was a way to remind His people of His splendor. It was a medium to transmit the heart-felt emotion of gratitude for all He is and all He has done.
Job 38 goes on to tell us that singing was even a part of the creation process, as the celestial bodies began singing while God laid the foundations of all things.
Music is at the heart of God’s work with mankind. And it should be at the heart of man’s worship of God. He created us as musical beings, designed to create music, invent and play musical instruments, and even to use our voices as an instrument of His praise.
It is no wonder then that part of the assignment of tasks in the newly established city of Jerusalem was to have families of singers literally singing God’s praise every day. God’s glory was to be echoed by His people, and there was no greater way to do this than the verbal exaltation that the temple singers would bring Him. For nearly a century the harps had been silent. No tambourines or cymbals had sounded out rhythms. No choir had called out God’s name. But now the worship had begun.
We too are designed to create and music and worship God through this means. Whether it is through recorded media or songs from our heart, our God deserves to be exalted with all the sounds of music that His creation can muster.

Food For Thought: How can we worship God in musical ways? List at least three.

Nehemiah 11:1-19

The golden days of laboring together on the walls of the city were over, and now, the people had to move to the every day grind of life. When hand joined in hand, it was hard work, but the sense of community was invigorating. Now the work of daily discipline began. The highlights of celebration would be fading memories.
All the people living in Jerusalem began to fulfill the role to which they had been called. If the city were to survive, it would have to be inhabited by people. However, since the city had been in such disrepair for decades, the population had dwindled to a dismal level. Now, people would be asked to move from their homes in outlying towns and villages, to occupy the city of Jerusalem.
One by one, families volunteered to move their homes and their livelihood within the walls of the great city. Abandoning the land of their fathers, and even of their own financial stability, the volunteers filed into their new life style as citizens of the great city of Jerusalem.
In a culture that thrived on the cohesion of the family unit, this move would have been heart-breaking. Villages that were inhabited by several generations of family members were being asked to send away some of those family members so that the newly built walls could be inhabited.
Although this seemed like one of the most difficult tasks, people willingly sacrificed themselves to the necessity. They viewed themselves as part of something greater than their own families.
In Luke 14:26, Jesus spoke of a similar sacrifice that His followers would have to make, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” With these stiff words, Christ expressed to His disciples the same priority set that Nehemiah was looking for in the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
People had to view their calling as more valuable than their physical relationships. The temporal must take the back seat to the eternal. It was not a call to neglect family, rather, it was a call to put family in the right place on the priority list. And just as the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw the rebuilding of Jerusalem as a higher priority than their own financial success, we too are called to view the desires of God as greater than our own endeavors.

Food for Thought: Read 1 Timothy 5:8. How does this verse differ from what Christ calls us to in Luke 14?