Nehemiah 1 – 4

Verse 1:5 is something we say often:

Notice me—Eternal One, God of heaven, great and awesome God. You are the keeper of the covenant and loyally love those who love You and follow Your commands.

How many times do we feel God is ignoring us? How often do we feel alone in this world? We seem to forget one of God’s attributes is He is “omnipresent” being He is everywhere all the time. This means God is always with us!! Most of the time we think God is not noticing us He is actually training us for one reason or another. Think about most of the stories in the Bible, God seems to ignore the “hero” only to have their training be the factor.

Think of Joseph the youngest of Jacob’s 12 sons, who were the heads of the tribes of Israel. He was cast into a pit and then sold for slavery, to Joseph God must have forgotten him. Yet as we study that story we see how God humbles Joseph and trains him for his ultimate role of saving the nation of Israel from famine. So when you are down and out remember this story and have faith the “other side” of silence will be blesses (assuming you remain faithful). Often we “blow up” and lose our way, don’t do that!

Verse 4:1 shows how some can attempt to derail God’s blessing:

When word of our progress in rebuilding the wall reached Sanballat, he became enraged. His anger spilled over into mockery of the Jews,

This was manifested in “ridicule and abuse” towards those rebuilding the temple. When we think about this story we see God needs to do a bunch of background work with different kings and leaders. Each time His temple is delayed but is never thwarted, only delayed.

Verse 4:23 is the result of how they had to construct the fortifications:

We all slept in our clothes—my kinsmen, my servants, and the guards I commanded. And we never set our weapons down, even when we went to get water.

Imagine having to work and rest with one hand on the trigger at all times? Think about the stress of laying a wall knowing there was someone out there ready to attack you. I know today we all believe we are not safe, but in reality how many have been victims of violence? “An armed society is a polite society” is a fallacy we live by since in reality a society that follows Jesus and loves one and other is a truly “polite society” without the need for a gun.

Now don’t take this as an anti-gun message, but rather an anti-violence message. We need to return to God’s Ten Commandments with Jesus’ focus on love. When you think about it a society that follows those is a truly “polite society”! If you really become a student of those ten statements, you will understand how revolutionary they were and still are. No wonder people don’t want them in our governments!