My Signed List/Agreement

 

Nehemiah 10:28-29 The rest of the people … join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into ... an oath to walk in God’s Law …

Making a list is definitely my "thing."  It helps me get things done. It helps me remember things better. It helps me learn more and learn more quickly. 

Making a list helps me figure out a methodology for getting things done.

Yes, I would have to say I am definitely a “list person.”  

I think that is, in a way, what happened when Ezra and Nehemiah, along with the other leaders in Jerusalem made their covenant with God and they all signed it after reading God's Law with the people for the first time in a very lo-o-o-ong time. 

It was a list of obligations from the Mosaic Law – a list to help keep the people on track spiritually. 

The obligations were basic principles for their godly living that I see as a mirror of my 21st century godly living, based on the New Testament.

We promise (they wrote) to:

    1) ... not marry outside of our faith

    2) ... keep the Sabbath (the day set aside for rest and worship)

    3) ... make regular offerings to assist in God's work through the temple

    4) ... pay tithes of all our income

    5) ... not neglect God's house.

My list looks a little different due to the era in which I live, but it is amazingly similar to that ancient list of promises. 

I promise to:

    1) ... not marry an unbeliever, anyone who does not have faith in Christ and live it out regularly and faithfully. "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." ~ 2 Corinthians 6:14

    2) ... worship with other believers regularly. "Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another." ~ Hebrews 10:25

    3) ... make regular offerings to the work of God through the church. "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." ~ 2 Corinthians 9:7

    4) ... pay tithes out of my income. "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. " ~ Malachi 3:10

    5) ... not neglect God's house.

Signing the agreement made the obligation more binding than a list of just dos and don’ts would be.   

Their list - and now mine as well - was a vivid reminder of what needed to be done.

It is a way to show my love for God and what He has done for me.

I hereby sign my list:

                                    Jo Ann Rhodes

Little is Much

 Nehemiah 7:70 Now some of the heads of fathers’ houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury …

Talk about dedication.

The people who came back to Jerusalem and helped rebuild the walls were a dedicated group of people. 

✅First, they made the decision to leave their well-established lives in Babylon to make the journey back to Jerusalem. For most, if not all of them, they were like pioneers, not knowing just what life would be like when they arrived. 

✅Then, when they arrived in Jerusalem, their lives could not have been easy because the city was in such disarray. That meant no decent housing in which to live. No corner stores to purchase supplies and food.

✅Third, they spent most of their time and energy on building the city walls, even though they did not have construction experience. The work was hard, energy-draining work.

✅On top of the workload, they had the danger from the enemies around them who wanted to thwart, if not stop completely, their work of rebuilding. 

Their dedication to the rebuilding is remarkable and heart-warming. 

✅Then, as though what they were doing already was not enough, we read of all the gifts of treasures they made towards the re-establishment of Jerusalem. 

The governor donated money and items, as did the heads of many homes. 

Their generosity led others to also give. They saw and felt the value of what they had been able to do, with God’s help, in a relatively short time, only seven months, according to Nehemiah 7:73. 

God's faithfulness to them spurred them to do even more.

You can tell they really were inspired by all that God had helped them do as a result of that one decision each had made - to leave their comfortable, predictable life in Babylon and become "pioneers."

As the song says, “Little is much when God is in it.”

Where Are the Construction Workers?

                                                    

I am now reading the book of Nehemiah, the story of a man who took a leave of absence from his duties of service in  King Artaxerxes in the Persian Empire to lead the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem back in Israel.

In the account of the rebuilding of the city walls and gates as well as repairing of houses, the list of those who participated in the rebuilding carries with it a good lesson for my own life and experience.

Who did the rebuilding in Jerusalem?

   Religious leaders (priests and Levites)

   Goldsmiths and perfumers - business and professional men

   Government officials - rulers of districts of the city

   Citizens

Did you notice who is missing from the list? 

     Construction workers! Not the first construction worker is named in that list of re-builders.

God did not need a single construction worker to accomplish the task He had directed Nehemiah to plan and direct.

That missing group tells me that as an "ordinary person" I can do a specialized job if God is helping me.

Experience and training are valuable assets, but there are times when God might be asking me to do something that I think I cannot do well enough to participate.

No job is impossible if God is leading you to do it. 

He will help me do whatever His will ordains for me to do.

Take Courage and Act

Ezra 7:28 Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

It was no small or insignificant task that Ezra was taking on.  

He was going to be going back to Israel to help rebuild Jerusalem. He had never been there, most likely having been born in Babylon after the Jews were taken captive by the Babylonians when they conquered the land of Israel. 

He had never done anything like this.  His background was all “wrong” for this task. He was a priest, a direct descendant of the first High Priest Aaron.

But Ezra took a deep breath, so to speak, and jumped right into the task at hand.  "I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me," Ezra tells us.

Where did he get that courage?

That courage to act came from his confidence of one thing: he knew the Lord’s hand was on him and would bring success.  

That gave him the courage to step out and prepare for the journey and the job ahead.  

In fact, earlier in the chapter, in verse 9-10 we are told that the hand of blessing of God was on Ezra specifically because he had set his heart to study, obey, and teach God’s Word.  

That determination gave Ezra what he needed to take on that big task. He knew he had all he needed to carry him through the daunting task that lay ahead for him and his people.

If we know God’s hand is on us for a task, 

     if we have determined to know and obey God's will,

         we can step up and act courageously.  

And do so successfully, because God's hand will be on us with blessing.
 

All Mine

The past couple of days I have been reading another challenging book of prophecy in the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Zechariah.

I am encouraged by the pictures of what God does for His children that we find throughout Zechariah chapter ten.

Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field. ~ Zechariah 10:1

As a follower of Jesus, I have spiritual restoration.

The Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle. ~  Zechariah 10:3

 As a follower of Christ, I have strength.

They shall be like mighty men in battle, trampling the foe in the mud of the streets; they shall fight because the Lord is with them ... ~ Zechariah 10:5

As God's child, I have courage.

Their hearts shall be glad as with wine. ~ Zechariah 10:7

As a follower of Jesus, I have joy.

He shall pass through the sea of troubles and strike down the waves of the sea. ~ Zechariah 10:11

As a follower of Christ, I have confidence.

I will make them strong in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name,” declares the Lord. ~ Zechariah 10:12

As God's child, I have security.

Redemption and restoration, courage and strength, confidence and security - all mine because I am cared for by the Lord of hosts.

Consider Your Ways

Haggai 1:6 Consider your ways ...

The Jews in Jerusalem had been sent back from Babylon for the express purpose of rebuilding the temple almost 20 years before these events in Haggai.  They had started well, but the work on the temple rebuild had lapsed for several years.

That is why God sent the prophet Haggai to the people with a special message: 

                   Consider your ways.

The people were telling one another, "The time has not come to rebuild" (Haggai 1:2). How was it that they would say that if the main reason for their return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon had been to rebuild?

There were some good reasons why they might say this, and why the work of rebuilding the temple had been delayed. Those reasons are all listed in Haggai 1:6:
           1. They were tired; the work was hard.

           2. They needed food and water.

           3. They needed clothing.

           4. They needed to make money.

Sounds like pretty good reasons to me. After all, we all need shelter, clothing, food, money.

But the problem in Haggai was not that they did not need food and shelter; it was that they had let those needs and efforts take precedence over the temple to the extent that they ignored the main reason for their return in the first place.  

Their priorities were off balance. 

The temple was the sign of God’s presence and preeminence in their lives, so not working on that structure was an indication that they had gotten off-track spiritually.

So God sent them several reminders. The message of Haggai 1:6 was to remind them: You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

“Consider your ways,”  God says through the prophet Haggai. 

Haggai was saying to them: “STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN.”
           1. STOP what you are doing
           2. LOOK at what is happening
           3. LISTEN to what God is saying

Ask yourself these questions:

*What are you working for? Haggai 1:4 says, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? "

*Why are you working?  Haggai 1:8: "Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord."

*What are your expectations in life? Haggai says in 1:9, "You looked for much, and behold, it came to little". 

I must keep my priorities straight if I want God's blessing on what I do. God's message to the Jews in Haggai's time is His message to me in 2023:

"Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts." ~ Haggai 2:4

            

Just Do It Afraid

 

Ezra 3:3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord …

I suppose that as long as we live on this earth there will always be someone or something around to cause us to be afraid, or to feel fear or feel threatened.  

But fear should not, it cannot, be allowed to keep us from doing the right thing.  Sometimes we have to do what is right even if we feel afraid.   

Fear can paralyze us, but only if we allow it to do so.  If our desire to please God and to honor Him is strong enough it will give us the extra courage we need to overcome our fear and do what needs to be done.  

I remember reading the story of a little girl who felt afraid to go to school for the first time. He mother said to the child, 

“Just do it afraid.”   

 It happened that way for those Jews in Ezra’s time.  

That is what the Jews did when they rebuilt the altar in Jerusalem.The passage does not say why they were afraid of the people around them, but it does not really matter.  The important thing is that they went ahead despite their fear and did the right thing, the thing they should do.   

They did it because of “what is written” (v.4).  After they took that initial step, they presented regular burnt offerings (v.5).

The first step was the hardest, but it got them going on the right track and in the right direction.

They did it afraid. 

"And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, an the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord. ... And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation  of the house of the Lord was laid." ~ Ezra 3:10-11