Dec 26 Nehemiah 5, Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah 7:1-3 Revelation 18:1-17 Proverbs 31:10-20
Neh 5:14-15
Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. – The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
Just because you are entitled to something doesn’t mean you should always take it. Is it your right to be offered it? Yes. But there’s more going on than just our own rights.
When we defend what we think we deserve, we stop thinking about the greater cause.
Nehemiah had been given a food allowance from the king. Fair enough. It was his right to have that. But the former governors had absurd this and the people had suffered as a result. Nehemiah was different.
He was trying o rebuild a people and that can’t happen without trust. He didn’t count every penny to make sure he got what he was owed… instead he put the people first because His eyes were on the Lord.
How this flies in the face of today’s culture, where we grab ahold of every penny we feel we are owed. Where we are encourage to do so, because it’s our “right”.
It’s amazing to see so many in Church follow the example of Nehemiah. Church could not do all it does without a thriving volunteer force that gives of itself time and again,, not worried about what it’s owed.
As I write today, our ministry to the Elderly “Oasis” has just had their Christmas party. That ministry exists because people who run it, give of themselves without focusing on what they get for it.
Thank you to every Christian who steps up unpaid, sometimes unthanked and often unnoticed for the work you do. It’s because of people like them that the church is able to reach the world. You follow the example of Nehemiah well.
