Restart: Stepping Out in Faithናሙና

UPHOLDING GOD’S LAWS Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem roughly 12 years after the restoration of the wall. He finds that the citizens have broken their vows and have fallen back into sinful practices that would surely displease God. In this passage, the Sabbath is being desecrated as merchants, including fishmongers, from other towns peddled their wares in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Even when told this is wrong, some merchants arrived on the Sabbath with their good, and stayed outside the city gates all night, waiting for the Sabbath to be over to begin selling. In addition, the high priest has allowed Tobiah, one of their enemies, to live in a portion of the temple where the tithes were to be stored; the people were no longer faithful in bringing their tithes, so the Levites who should have been serving full-time in the temple had to find regular jobs. Furthermore, the people were intermarrying and the Hebrew language and culture was being lost because the children could no longer speak their native language. Nehemiah responded harshly and quickly to these infractions. He threw out Tobiah and all his furniture from the temple and ordered it to be cleansed, he reinstituted the tithes, he put an end to intermarriage, and he threatened the merchants with arrest and put guards along the city gates to guarantee enforcement that the Sabbath would indeed be kept holy. Examine each of the four infractions Nehemiah corrected on his return. Can you see how disobeying God’s laws, even in the simplest ways, will eventually lead to committing a full-blown offense? Get involved by checking out Congressional Bills which, if passed, would have a negative impact on what the church believes. Write letters to your elected officials and voice your dissent. Get others to join you. Pray: Lord, let us not be lukewarm in our worship and obedience to you. Set our hearts on fire that we might follow your precepts with zeal.