Nehemiah 12:27-13:31, 1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Psalm 35:1-16, Proverbs 21:17-18
Today is the 17th day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian, it is great to be here with you today and every day as we take the next step forward together through…through the Scriptures. In the Old Testament we’ve been spending the last several days in the book of Nehemiah. We will conclude our journey through the book of Nehemiah for this year today and move forward into some new territory tomorrow. So, let’s set let’s finish strong and finish well. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week, Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 27 through 13 verse 31.
Commentary:
Okay, so we…I was gonna say we included the book of Nehemiah, but we concluded the book of Nehemiah today. Over the course the last couple days we’ve had a number of lists to read through, all the different people that were involved in different things. This entire book is given us quite a glimpse into the processes of fulfilling a calling or a mission, or desire and ambition, concluding today with restoration, like how quickly things fall out of alignment and sink, how quickly they have to be maintained. So, let’s just really quickly, take a look back, we remember, Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king, so we know Nehemiah would’ve been educated and would’ve understood the ways of the Kingdom, I mean he was in the presence of the king of the umpire on a continual basis, which allowed him to have access to the latest information coming from Judah, from Jerusalem, from the returning exiles. And he learned about the construction of the temple, and he imagined, he imagined that, he thought about that. That’s the place where God dwells and visits with mankind, but he also pictured the fact that it was standing there in Jerusalem with no protection at all. The wall had been destroyed in the Babylonian conquest and so, he begins to have a passion to see the temple of the Lord restored but also protected and that society would begin to move back toward the Mosaic law, the law of God. And so, he begins dreaming this, thinking about it, interceding before the Lord until he gets his opportunity before the king to share what’s in his heart, and the king allows him to go. So, we see that there’s all lots of dreaming but then a lot of planning and intercession really considering what he’s gonna ask and then he gets permission and he gets resourced and he goes to Jerusalem and then he doesn’t tell anybody what he’s gonna do for several days. He inspects, he looks the whole situation over, he sizes up the scope of the labor and the work, what it’s gonna take to get this job done, before he gets a bunch of voices into the mix, and once he’s got the lay of the land and the plan he shares the vision and the people catch fire with it. And the wall is built half its size, like half its height pretty quickly, but we watched. We watched as they made progress, and it looked like they would actually be building something, then the voice of the tauter came: the ridicule, the criticism and the discouragement that comes from and that these voices were coming from outside from the people in the lands but not authorized to be doing what the Hebrew people were doing and so they taunted them. And when that didn’t work then they threatened them. And that actually really slowed down Nehemiah’s vision, probably ½ speed or less because now he had to cut the workforce and half and allow half the people to be working, while the other half were standing guard ready for an imminent attack because they’re building a city wall so there spread out all over where this wall is going to go so, people were vulnerable to sort of like ambush style attacks were enemies to be in the city, there’s no wall right. So, people can be anywhere and then they can be ambushed and then people just disappear. And so…so Nehemiah’s like okay, then we’re going to strap on our swords and we’re going to keep going and that’s what they did, slower, but forward. They did not stop and the then the politics started, letters going back and forth to the king accusing Jerusalem of rebellion, accusing Nehemiah of rebellion. Eventually, even accusing Nehemiah that his ultimate plot is to become the king. They’re gonna get this wall done, fortify the city, he’s gonna pay off some prophets and they’re gonna anoint him the king and that’s a threat, that’s an open letter that Nehemiah read because these people who have been taunting and threatening them are trying to get him to come down off the wall into the valley where they can have a summit meeting about all this stuff. He won’t come down off that wall. So, they sent him an open letter that they’re going to send to the king. And, then there are prophets who have been paid off in Jerusalem to try to convince Nehemiah to flee to God’s temple where he can be protected. But Nehemiah knows that will just discredit him as if he’s done something wrong or sinful that he needs to be protected from like he has to hide and go on the run and ruin his reputation in the process so he won’t do that. But he…he has faced significant challenges to get this done. Finally, we have the scene where it is done and two groups of people are up on top of that wall and they start marching in opposite directions, worshiping and praising and singing with the intention that they’ll meet halfway which will be at the temple’s entrance and a grand celebration. Nehemiah had returned back to the king in Persia, reported to him all that was going on and then he was allowed to return. So, you can only imagine the fulfillment that it would be to return and see this wall but there were problems with in the walls. So, Eliashib who was in charge, kind of, of what was the storerooms, what was being stored in the temple to care for the priesthood, etc. etc. he allowed a man named Tobiah to have personal space in the temple to use as he pleased. This named Tobiah should sound kind of familiar, because he was one of the big instigators and intimidators and threateners and discouragers while they were building the wall and here, he is with Nehemiah gone being given permission to have his own space in the temple because Tobiah and Eliashib were related to each other. So, we watched Nehemiah throw all his crap out right, and then ask God, remember me like, remember what I’ve done here, count this to my credit. And then Nehemiah realizes that the priests and the Levites, the singers, the worshipers, like they had, they’ve departed. They’ve gone back to their ancestral farmlands so they can make food, enough to eat because they’re not being resourced as they perform the duties of…of priests and Levites leading people and the awareness of God, in the worship of God and the adherence to the law they’ve had to leave their duty in order to survive. And so, Nehemiah’s like are you kidding me? And he summons them back and puts them back to work and then he realizes that the Sabbath days has been profaned. There are all kinds of merchants coming into the city on the Sabbath day, and there’s all kinds of work being done on the Sabbath day, that the Sabbath day is not being kept holy, in other words. And so, he has to close the gates and lock them up when the Sabbath day begins. Sabbath would begin on at sundown on Friday and be over at sundown on a Saturday and so they lock the gates and there’s merchants that are still like camping out outside thinking that they’re gonna get in. So, Nehemiah has to be like no I’m back, basically this is not going to happen and you’ll never get in here on the Sabbath, and if you try, you won’t like how this goes down for you so stay away from here on the Sabbath. So, he restores the honor of the Sabbath day, only to realize that the people are intermingling with the surrounding peoples again. The very thing that had destroyed them in the first place and in the end we see Nehemiah offering words of prayer again, which he had done the entire process, at every turn, he acknowledged his need for God, his dependence upon God for success in the mission and so the final words of Nehemiah: remember all this, oh God, and give me credit for it, ring true. Because he didn’t just get a vision and then it just fell into his lap and then it was all done and he got all the glory for it. He had to go through a lot to see this through and in the end he knew, only God, only God provided a way for this to happen. And so, there’s so much we can go back to Nehemiah at any time and go back through the process and the steps just to have a little bit of a template, just a little bit of understanding that just because he had a vision or a dream, or a motivation or a calling from God to get something done, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t going to be challenging. It was extraordinarily challenging but he didn’t stop, he kept going, depending on God, no matter what. Just moving forward even incrementally is still moving forward.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we thank You for this territory that we’ve been able to be in, in the Scriptures and for the way that it applies so directly to so many aspects of our lives, in so many aspects of the way that we make our choices and decisions that we’re grateful. And we thank You for the opportunity to not only look at the history of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of the exiles, but leadership and finishing what we’ve started because were a people that are really good at starting things that we don’t finish but then they’re not finished and, in this case, we watched things, it finished well. So come Holy Spirit and show us those things that we need to finish well and that we need to acknowledge You in and understand that we won’t finish them at all, if You weren’t with us. Come Holy Spirit into that we pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayers and Encouragements:
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Jay from Nashville. Oh it’s been a while since I’ve called in. I’ve been listening to the prayers and man, so many of God’s people are just going through it right now, myself included. It’s been, it’s been an interesting year for me to say the least but you know what, God is still good. No matter how depressed I get, no matter how sad I get, no matter how dark it seems, no matter, no matter how many games the enemy plays in my head, I still remember that God is good. He still lets me wake up to even experience and that’s the thing that keeps reverberating in my mind is, we can say things like you’re never alone, which were not. We can say things like sorry to hear that, which we are, we can say things like, you’ve got to change your viewpoint and be positive. You know but the…all that’s true, all of that’s true. So, know that, right now that if you’re in the darkness, you’re not alone and I’m gonna pray for you right now. Father in the name Jesus Christ, Lord God in heaven, creator of all things seen and unseen. God, we bring before You our burdens, our anxieties, our heavy hearts and the pain that has been introduced into our lives. Lord, Your word tells us You wouldn’t give us more than we can bear. So, we give this to you now because we reach out oh God, we reach out and we say we’ve had enough.
Hello DAB family this is BubbaD praying for Rosie. Pray to be free in Jesus and her son Charles. Father God, I pray that You would touch this man’s heart, that You would free him Lord from every addiction that he’s had, that You would show Your mercy and love to him. That You would show up in unexpected places where he would just see You and remember everything, his mom, and his church. People taught him all that he received as a child, Father I pray that it comes back. He would not be able to escape from what You are speaking to him Father. That he would be drawn by Your goodness Father. Bless him with salvation of the knowledge of You in coming back to the fold, coming back to the Father’s house. House of bread in Jesus name. Amen.
Hey my precious DAB fam, this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel. Today is August 12th and it’s a very special day for me family because nine years ago I was caught in a crossfire of a gang war that was ensuing while driving my work truck. I was working for Frito Lay at the time and while on the westside of Chicago I drove right into a gang war that I didn’t realize, it was under way. Family, I don’t have all the time to tell you the whole story but I’ll try to share it more in detail on the friend’s page but let me just tell you according to the investigators, there were multiple bullets that pierced my truck, my work truck. And a huge gaping hole was made in the windshield right in front of the driver’s seat. The hole was as big as a softball. How those bullets didn’t come through me is a miracle. But they grazed me, I have three holes in my shirt that I still have today. And I’ll try to show you guys. But three holes were made in that shirt by one or more bullets. It grazed me in my upper torso area and it went through my arm and the doctors told me had that bullet gone a millimeter lower it would have hit my major artery. All I’m trying to tell you family God is a miracle working God and He can do anything. Be encouraged.
Good afternoon DAB family, God Bless you all. Quiet Confidence form Virginia, oh I heard you and I just started to recall September 19, 2013. I wanted to commit suicide in my classroom as I was waiting for my kindergarten children to come up from the auditorium and I never got to see them that day I went right from there to the emergency room, to the hospital. And I became a recluse after that, I couldn’t get out but God saved me from that. He saved me from that. I didn’t, you know, I never took any meds, never. So, I know it’s possible but I’m not suggesting you do that, I’m just telling you that it’s possible. But you do what you need to do as the Lord guides you. But you know I am believing that He can get you to where you need to be. You know, but it’s a battle, it’s an uphill fight and you’re gonna have to fight hard for this. You’re gonna have to really fight hard and push though and I had to constantly tell myself as I started to go through that struggle because I wasn’t really saved. Well, I was but I really wasn’t, I was like lukewarm. But I started seeking the Lord and just fighting and just telling Him I can do all things through Christ and telling myself I can do all things through Christ and telling the enemy I can do all things through Christ. And I’m just gonna ask you sister, you can do all things through Christ, you just have to fight. You have to fight. This is not something that God is gonna do on His own. You’re gonna have to fight your way through and you’re gonna persevere, I am believing that in the name of Jesus. I am believing it and declaring it and calling it into existence, right now in the name of Jesus. Esther from Kissimmee.
Good evening family, this is Soaring on Eagles Wings from Canada. Oh Rosie, it was such a delight to hear your voice, I know you pray for our children. And here you are asking for prayer for your son Charles who has been so hurt through rejecting and is now turned aside from God and he’s also being an offender. And God I ask You to deliver him from that behavior and help him to see that You haven’t rejected him. You love him with an everlasting love. I pray that somehow the light of and the love of Christ would infiltrate his life. Doctor John, youyou’re your glaucoma surgery and then you felt the sharp shooting pain and so you went from light to darkness and you think there is bleeding. Father God the giver of life I pray that you would touch Doctor John’s eyes and whatever is causing this will be healed, in the name of Jesus. That he would have vision again Lord God. I think of Quiet Confidence as she has fears and anxieties and depression all upon her and she’s not able to function in her daily life. Lord God, deliver her today. She’s sounds so down and discouraged. Her husband is the only one working and You God are the only one who can meet her where she is. Give her joy, lift her, and the lies that enemy is using to penetrate her brain, may she be delivered in the mighty, powerful name of Jesus.