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.