When a person has turned away from wrong or destructive behavior in their life, they need to make some changes in their life and habits, or else they will likely fall right back into their old, harmful, and detrimental ways. They need to develop good habits and lifestyle changes, and get back on the right path. In our Scripture today from the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah, we will read of two godly men who sought to help the nation get back on that right path with God, and make the changes necessary in their life, so as not to fall back into the ways of the past.
As we read throughout the whole Old Testament, we see how the people of Israel and Judah repeatedly turned away from faithful worship of Yahweh, and followed after the false gods of the surrounding nations. Despite faithful prophets preaching the Word of God to the people, they forsook the Lord, and turned to pagan idols. As a result, after many years of enduring their faithlessness, God punished the people by sending them into captivity in Babylon. There they remained for 70 years. After that time, their captors slowly allowed them to return.
As our Scripture opens, both Nehemiah, the governor of Judah under the Persian king’s authority, and Ezra, a priest and scribe, both very godly men, sought to help bring the people back to truly worshiping and following Yahweh so that they would not repeat the sins of their ancestors. For true revival to take place in the people’s hearts, these men knew that they needed to hear and obey the Word of God. That was the only way that they would avoid falling back into the sins of their fathers. Good intentions and promises will not keep us from repeating the sins we seek to forsake. It is only by getting into God’s Word, the Bible, that we will truly make a change in our life, and bring revival to our hearts.
Ezra and Nehemiah gathered the people together, and publicly read the Word of God to them, and taught them what the Scriptures meant (vs. 1-8). Throughout the day the Word of God was read aloud, and then Ezra, along with several of his faithful companions, instructed and explained the Bible (vs. 8). As the religious leaders read from the Scriptures, the people who were gathered together to hear, showed proper respect to God’s Word (vs. 6). They bowed low, with their face to the ground. Such a posture reminds us that God is the King, and we are His subjects, His servants. He is sovereign. We are not.
They also listened intently to the Bible being read. How many times has it happened, when we are in church listening to the message that the pastor brings, that our mind wanders off to thinking of any number of things? Or perhaps when we are reading the Bible, we get to the end of the page, and realize that though our eyes were reading the words, our mind was off a thousand miles away. When we listen to God’s Word being taught, we need to be actively listening, actually hearing what is said, and not letting our mind wander. The same is true when we read the Bible.
After hearing and learning God’s Word, the people were convicted of their sins, and the sins of their forefathers, how they had strayed so far away from Yahweh, and they wept (vs. 9). They recognized how deeply they had sinned against God. His Word had awoken their conscience. For a true revival to occur, we must realize our sinfulness and God’s holiness and righteousness. Then we will be able to turn to Him in repentance and come back to His path.
When the people who had returned from captivity determined to obey and follow God, they could rejoice because God forgives sin, and will bless obedience (vs. 10). When we repent and turn to Him, the Lord will forgive us. When we receive that forgiveness, there is no more need to be sorry. Ezra and Nehemiah encouraged the people to now rejoice.
The Lord’s delight is in forgiving and saving us. He finds joy in showing love to all who believe in Him. When we feel weak and helpless, we need to remember that God loves to deliver us. We can trust God with our needs. We can choose joy over giving in to despair, and find our delight in Him. We need to rejoice and refill our tank with joy, the Lord’s joy, not a cheap imitation from the world (vs. 10). The best way to do that is to spend time in the presence of God by prayer and reading His Word daily, getting to intimately know Him. God’s heart is filled with joy when we obey Him. When we do, we will find that His joy is our strength.
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