Parades. Nehemiah 12:31, 38-43.

When you think of Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations, what comes to mind? Alcohol.

To honor the only holiday dedicated to a missionary, the world drinks green beer to excess.

There are better ways to honor the saint.

But people love a parade—and they love an excuse to imbibe.  There are as many reasons for parades as there are cities: there are Mardi Gras parades, July Fourth parades, parades to celebrate winning football teams, and parades to commemorate historical events and historical people. There is the Mermaid Festival at Coney Island, the Texas Art Car Parade in Houston, the Go Blonde Festival in Latvia, and the Lobster Dog Parade (in which dogs are dressed up as lobsters).

Last year we enjoyed the July Fourth Parade in Durango, Colorado. It was a cute, small-town event with people walking on stilts, old guys driving antique cars, and Shriners wearing fezzes curling around the street in tiny cars. It was a nice way to reflect on almost 250 years of freedom in the United States.

But a commemoration parade is nothing like a parade to celebrate a current event.

Imagine what it was like for the Hebrew people in the book of Nehemiah. Most of them were raised in Persia. All their lives they had heard stories about the Promised Land. Now they had finally arrived. Things were in a state of disrepair, but they rebuilt the city wall and gates in under 60 days. This was cause for great celebration!

“Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions to give thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate” Nehemiah 12:31.  There were musicians playing trumpets and other instruments, and numerous singers. “The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens, the Broad Wall, above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard. The two thanksgiving processionals stood in the House of God. So did I and half the officials accompanying me … Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away” Nehemiah 12:38-43.

They celebrated. How? By WORSHIPPING. They sang, they prayed, they made sacrifices. They dedicated themselves and their city to the Lord. That is the way to truly celebrate. When God does a great thing in your life, notice it, mark it: take pictures, write about it, remember it—but most importantly, give thanks to God. Spend time worshipping Him and thanking Him. Honor Him for what He has done for you!

ΑΩ

THINGS ARE GONNA GET BETTER! Psalm 30:5; Psalm 126:1-2,5-6.

Sometimes life is hard. It just is. There is the grief of emotional loss. There is the pressure of responsibilities. There are health concerns and disappointed hopes and crushed dreams. You gained weight when you were trying to lose it. You gave up three walks when you had a chance to strike them out. Another day is over and again it is too late to hope for a good night’s rest. Sometimes life is hard.

But things will get better!

It won’t stay dark forever—the sun always comes up. Work will ease up. You will get some rest and have some fun and recharge your batteries and feel refreshed. Don’t let temporary burdens steal your joy. Sure, it’s a cliché, but remember: tough times never last, but tough people do!

“Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning!” Psalm 30:5.

Are you struggling? Don’t give up! Your joy will return, no matter how hard this is, or how long you have suffered. When Israel was released from Babylonian captivity, they could not believe their joy.

“When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with joyful shouting…. Those who sow in tears, shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall come again with a shout of joy, bringing his harvest with him” Psalm 126:1-2, 5-6.

The good times are easy, right?

What we need to know is how to handle the bad times.

It’s simple: GRATITUDE.

Count your blessings. Rejoice. Thank God for EVERYTHING He has done and everything He is doing and everyone in your life. Thankfulness changes your attitude as dramatically as humility—everything in your life looks different through the lens of thankfulness. And gratitude brings true joy. “In everything give thanks” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Thank you, God, for the challenges that draw us closer to You. Remind us to practice thankfulness in all things.

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GOD’S HOUSE. Nehemiah 13:7-9; 1 Corinthians 6:19.

My attention was arrested this morning by a strange passage:

“I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in … God’s house. I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room. I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God returned there, along with the grain offering and frankincense” Nehemiah 13:7-9.

Eliashib was the priest and he gave Tobiah an apartment INSIDE THE TEMPLE.

What? He let the man move into rooms inside the TEMPLE? That’s crazy. No wonder Nehemiah was angry. When he found out, he threw Tobiah’s things out. Then he purified the rooms, because God’s holy temple had been defiled. It had been treated as something common, something ordinary. But it gets worse.

Tobiah was an enemy of God. He had been one of the two who fought the hardest to stop the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. He had mocked the workers and done everything in his power to stop the work God sent Nehemiah to do. Then once the work was done, he managed to move into God’s House! (What?! Isn’t that a weird story?)

 “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit… you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price” 1 Corinthians 6:19.

Are you treating your body like a temple? Or do you treat it like something common, something ordinary?

Do you allow the enemies of God to live in the temple?

Jesus bought you with HIS BLOOD. His temple must be treated with care as something holy. We must love our bodies, feed them well, exercise them, and never let sin touch them. Never sin with your body. It’s bad enough that it gets into your mind.

Temptation is like a bird: you can’t stop it from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair!

God, teach us to think of our bodies as YOUR TEMPLE.

ΑΩ

*The picture above is a dove that built a nest in one of my daughter’s hanging baskets. Twila took this picture yesterday!

If You’re Too Busy for God—You’re Too Busy. Nehemiah 9:3.

Are you too busy?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that most Americans work about forty hours a week.  That is less than most people have worked, both in other nations and other times in history. But those of us blessed with shorter modern work weeks manage to fill our free time with other activities. We spend twelve hours a week on hobbies, 21 hours watching TV, and 21 hours on social media. (That’s 42 hours of screentime—more than a full-time job!) And these statistics don’t include meals, travel time, shopping, doctor visits, errands, house work, and more.

The fact is, we know we are too busy—because no one sleeps enough.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 3 adults in the United States reports not getting enough sleep every day. Nearly 40% report falling asleep during the day without meaning to at least once a month.

How much time do you spend reading the Bible? How much time do you spend serving your church? How much time do you spend in worship and prayer? It is tempting to say we are too busy.

But we are busy by choice, not necessity.

In a world where we spend 42 hours a week watching TV and looking at social media, we clearly are not pressed for time. If we are spending as many hours as a full-time job on pure entertainment, surely we can find a little time for the One who gave His life for us.

“They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God” Nehemiah 9:3. 

Following seven days of hearing the word read aloud, the Hebrew people spent another six hours with God, standing, listening to the word, confessing sin, and worshipping. This was an unusual time of calling the people back to God.

I am not arguing you need to spend six hours with God every day. But have you ever? Have you ever gotten alone with God and given Him a whole day? Have you ever fasted and spent an entire day reading the word and talking to your Heavenly Father?

If you are too busy for God, you are too busy.

Drop an hour of television viewing. Put the phone down and give God your undivided attention. Doesn’t He deserve it? Doesn’t God deserve a measurable slice of your time, a little fraction of the day? Can you give him a quarter of an hour? Can you give him half an hour?

Psalm 1:1-2 instructs us to meditate on the word in the morning and evening.

Matthew 6:33 reminds us to seek His kingdom first.

If you are too busy for God, you are too busy.

We make time for the things that are important to us. If you cannot set aside some time for God, be honest with yourself: everything else in your life is more important to you than He is.

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” Mark 1:35.  

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GIVE GOD THE GLORY–and the Money. Nehemiah 10:35-37.

It’s great to hear athletes and movie stars give God glory. Sometimes it is heartfelt, other times it may not be. The wording can be clichéd; when I was in a similar situation, I would say: “Yeah, God really blessed me.”

But the point is, on some level the celebrity recognizes: I DID NOT DO THIS ON MY OWN.

In Nehemiah, the Hebrew people looked back on centuries of falling away from God through the Deuteronomic Principle, or “the sin cycle.” God would bless His people, they would get comfortable and fall into sin, God would send judgment, they would repent, God would deliver them, and they would fall into sin again….

Following the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews wanted to make a change. After days of Bible reading and prayer and fasting, they were ready to get serious. So to ensure that their children and grandchildren would remember God’s holiness, they created an organized system of giving. The reason?

Giving reminds you: I DID NOT DO THIS ON MY OWN.

“We will bring the FIRSTFRUITS of our land and of EVERY FRUIT TREE … year by year. We will also bring the firstborn of our SONS* and of our LIVESTOCK…. And will bring the firstborn of our HERDS and FLOCKS…. We will bring a LOAF FROM OUR FIRST BATCH OF DOUGH to the priests. We will also bring the FIRSTFRUITS OF OUR GRAIN OFFERINGS … and of our NEW WINE and OIL. A tenth of our land’s PRODUCE belongs to the Levites….” Nehemiah 10:35-37.

God’s people resolved to give Him the first and the best of everything: their crops, animals, bread, wine, and oil.

Giving back to God reminds us: I DID NOT DO THIS ON MY OWN.

Giving a tithe is more powerful than parroting empty words after a touchdown, “I just wanna thank Jesus Christ for getting me here today….” Anyone can say that. But giving away your bread—your MONEY—that’s the real test of your heart.

If you struggle with giving your money back to God, give Him MORE, and pray for Him to help you and guide you in your giving.

ΑΩ

*The Hebrews did not sacrifice their children, of course, as God calls that an abomination. But they would dedicate their firstborn son to the Lord by sacrificing a lamb on his behalf. See Exodus 13:12-16.

A BIBLICAL ATTENTION SPAN. Nehemiah 8:2-5,9.

Are you a good listener?

Am I? Consider this remarkable story.

“Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding…. He read out of it from daybreak until noon … ALL THE PEOPLE LISTENED ATTENTIVELY. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform made for this purpose…. Ezra opened the book in full view of all the people, since he was elevated above everyone. As he opened it, all the people stood up…. All the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.” Nehemiah 8:2-5,9.

Imagine the scene. One leader standing on a large platform, reading with the loudest possible voice, from daybreak till noon (SIX HOURS!), and thousands upon thousands listened to him. Not only that, THEY LISTENED ATTENTIVELY, SO DEEPLY ENGAGED THEY WEPT!

Do we listen that way? Have we EVER listened that way? Where could you go to find a group that could pay attention from dawn till noon? Who has that kind of attention span?

Can you imagine listening to someone READ the Bible for six hours? And could you be so deeply moved that the reading made you WEEP?

What did these Israelites know that we don’t know? Why were they able to ENGAGE with the written or spoken word so much more deeply than we do? Be honest—our minds wander if a single paragraph is dull or has two or three difficult Hebrew names. What is wrong with us? What have we lost? Is it TV? Devices? How do you explain our short attention span?

… Talk about being SOFT.

What happened to humanity?

God, give us mental strength, toughness, and discipline to read more, listen longer, and give You and Your word the serious attention and dedication it deserves.

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DO YOU HAVE A HIGH BOREDOM TOLERANCE? Nehemiah 8:1-3.

How do you feel about reading aloud? My mind can wander when I listen to a lengthy reading. After all, we are the SHORT ATTENTION SPAN GENERATION, right? We crave fast food, music every second of our lives, TV and movies during every free moment until we hit the pillow late at night. Few things train our attention span. One thing will: self-discipline. You have to GUT IT OUT.

Remember what they say at the gym? “Pain is weakness leaving the body?” I say:

“BOREDOM IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE MIND.”

Don’t hesitate to be bored.

Do your math. Read your textbook. Memorize things. Read dull books. It makes you so much stronger! I speak from experience. Trust me.

Do you prize your “high pain tolerance”? Few things will make you stronger and eventually SMARTER than having a HIGH BOREDOM TOLERANCE.

Not to mention what it will do for your growth as a Christian. I know so many people who have started reading the Bible at Genesis 1:1 and given up in Leviticus! The stories are captivating, but the laws are tedious to a modern reader. Why? Because we are spoiled.

We are SOFT.

The people of Israel were not soft. They were not part of the short attention span generation. They were not discouraged by the tedium of reading law.

“They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses … before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding…. He read out of it from daybreak until noon…. All the people listened attentively.” Nehemiah 8:1-3.

This reading of the law—for SIX HOURS A DAY—went on for eight days. And they listened eagerly, many moved to tears.

Pray for a HIGH BOREDOM TOLERANCE, and work hard to get there. Read good books, and most of all, read THE GOOD BOOK. Start with the New Testament.

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YOUR FIRST BIBLE. Nehemiah 8:3

Do you remember your first Bible? Most of us received one as first graders, and we went home and sat down and opened it. We were excited. We turned to Genesis 1:1, and started reading … and it quickly became difficult and a little boring.

The Bible is not a children’s book.

It includes rape, incest, adultery, murder, sodomy, famine, wars, starvation, cannibalism, including one story of a woman eating not only her newborn child but the afterbirth as well. Not a children’s tale.

But you are not children. You are educated and mature enough—it’s time to become good readers of the Word, readers who can tolerate dullness in light of the payoff—the little nuggets of truth hidden in dull passages.

Athletes say “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” I would argue “boredom is weakness leaving the mind.” Learn to ignore boredom the same way you ignore pain.

Bible reading means reading architectural blueprints in ancient prose, or family trees that deserve a massive Excel spreadsheet, or lengthy catalogues of the spoils of war or the supplies for an exodus—again materials better suited for a library index, but, you guessed it, written in prose. And then there are pages and pages and pages of songs, entire books of songs, and Psalms is one of the longest books in the Bible, and it’s all lyrics and no music. Today we would put it on a digital device and sing along.

But it’s God’s Word, His love letter to children He adores.

He will bless you if you study it. Are you studying it? When was the last time you read it on your own? When was the last time you studied—looked up verses and tried to find answers? How long has it been since you memorized something? If you want God’s blessings, make time.

Consider Nehemiah 8:3: Ezra “read out of [the Bible] from daybreak until noon…” He was standing–AND all the people stood to listen–for SIX HOURS–and they wept the whole time, because the words made them realize their sinfulness. (Do we weep over our sins? Have you EVER wept over sins?)

Our sin put Jesus on the cross. Take it seriously. Weep and repent and ask Him to help you change.

—And read the Word without letting it bore you. Remember the Israelites who could honor the Word with six hours of standing, listening, and weeping. Can we not give it five or ten minutes a day?

Boredom is weakness leaving the mind.

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Dream Big. Nehemiah 4:1-6; 6:15-16.

Set big goals. But accept the fact that you will hear discouraging voices. Expect it.

Put discouragement on your to-do list, so you can scratch a line through it when it happens. 

Because it WILL happen. People will say it can’t be done. They will tell you to quit, that you’re wasting your time, that you have the wrong dreams. They will accuse you of pride, of being unrealistic, of imagining a future for yourself that you do not deserve and will never attain. They will shake their head and call you naïve for entertaining childish dreams.

In fact, people are so good at serving up a meal of discouragement (which they feed themselves every day), that only the most outrageous commitment will get you to your goal.

When Nehemiah led the charge to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem, his enemies did everything they could to stop him.

“When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews … and said, ‘What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it?’ … Then Tobiah the Ammonite said, ‘Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!’” Nehemiah 4:1-3.

But Nehemiah prayed and the crews kept working. 

“So we rebuilt the wall until the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had the will to keep working” Nehemiah 4:6. 

What helped them persevere? Their WILL.  “The people had the will to keep working.” Never give up!

Then Nehemiah posted an armed guard, encouraging his workers to carry swords at all times in case of attack—and they continued to work.  Next the enemies began accusing the Israelites of planning a rebellion and used that false accusation to summon Nehemiah to meetings (where he knew they planned to ambush him). Nehemiah ignored each summons and kept on working.

“For they were all trying to intimidate us, saying, ‘They will become discouraged in the work, and it will never be finished.’  So Nehemiah prayed and kept on working. In the end, the walls were rebuilt in record time:

“The wall was completed in 52 days…. When all our enemies heard this, all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God” Nehemiah 6:15-16.

  1. Nehemiah began working to achieve an incredible goal.
  2. His enemies tried to discourage him.
  3. But the people had the WILL to keep working.
  4. His enemies redoubled their efforts to discourage Nehemiah.
  5. Nehemiah prayed and kept moving forward.
  6. Finally, Nehemiah achieved his God-given goal, and his enemies were intimidated and lost confidence because they knew God had done something amazing.

Dream big but expect discouragement. Pray, work hard, and NEVER GIVE UP.

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Pray Like Nehemiah. Nehemiah 1:4-11.

A wise king surrounds himself with capable people.

Pharaoh made Joseph second-in-command, Genesis 41:40-42. Nebuchadnezzar elevated the best of the Hebrews, young men “skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge,” bringing them into his service, Daniel 1:3-4. The same is true of Nehemiah. He was the king’s cupbearer, a position of great trust. There was more to it than simply keeping the wine glasses full. Nehemiah was a capable and high-ranking officer; the king trusted him with his life.

Nehemiah’s abilities became clear when he oversaw the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The cupbearer possessed extraordinary gifts of leadership and organization.

He also knew how to pray.

Nehemiah fasted.

When he heard the terrible news about the destruction of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, Nehemiah “sat down and wept,” and he “mourned, fasting and praying” Nehemiah 1:4. 

Then he prayed, first praising God for His infinite greatness:

“Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands…” Nehemiah 1:5.  Notice how many of God’s attributes Nehemiah named. That is what it means to praise God: you tell Him about His own greatness.

Next Nehemiah confessed sin—much of it sin for which he was not personally guilty.

But he knew the nation’s sin touched him. This is “corporate sin,” the idea that we all touch each other. No man is an island. The sins of your family, your town, your culture—those sins are YOUR sins and MY sins. 

“I confess the sins we have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted corruptly toward You and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances You gave your servant, Moses” Nehemiah 1:6-7.

Finally, Nehemiah prayed the Word.

“Please remember what You commanded your servant, Moses” v.8. Nehemiah then quotes God’s promises back to Him.

Do you ever pray that way? Do you come before the throne like a lawyer standing before a judge, quoting the law to the Great Lawgiver? Do you bring God’s own promises back to Him and ask Him to honor those promises? If that sounds wrong to you, or presumptuous, perhaps, then you do not understand prayer. God WANTS you to pray that way. MEMORIZE His word and pray it back to Him. That is the way Nehemiah prayed—this highly trusted, skilled leader. And God gave him all that for which he asked. 

Pray like Nehemiah:

(1) fast,

(2) praise,

(3) confess—individual AND corporate sin,

(4) pray God’s promises back to Him; claim His promises.

May God be glorified in our prayers and actions. 

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