Nehemiah’s enemies wanted to distract him from the great work that God has given him to do. His response, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3 ESV)
Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He’s a liar and deceiver. He’s also a distractor. Speaking as one who is so prone to wander, who is so easily distracted, I need the Lord’s help to keep running straight to the finish line.
Oh, Father, give me wisdom about when to turn aside and when to keep moving. Give me discernment to know when those little inconveniences are exactly what I’m supposed to do that day, and when they are just tools of the enemy to throw me off course. I need You every hour.
When the Israelites returned to Israel after years of living in exile in Babylon, their first desire was to rebuild the Temple and begin making offerings to God. Unfortunately, it takes time to rebuild a temple, so they simply set up an altar where the temple once had been and began celebrating the feasts and offerings there.
When I read this, I thought about the saying, “Delayed obedience is disobedience,” and wondered to myself what things I’m waiting on, what ducks I’m trying to get in a row, before I start doing what God has called me to do.
God wants us to obey Him today. Now. Right now. Here. Where you are. Wherever you are.
How many times have I thought —
When I know more about the Bible …
When I have a bigger house …
When I have more money …
When I’m not so busy …
God called some to go back to Jerusalem, and those who weren’t called to return were called to give generously to those who were. Both of these jobs were important – to go and to give – and God equipped both groups to obey Him.
If God has called you to do something, He will equip you to do it.
Maybe you’re wondering, “What is God calling me to do?”
I don’t know the specific plans that God has for you, those good works that He has prepared in advance for you (Ephesians 2:10), but I do know God has called you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Start there.
And sometimes what you’re supposed to be doing now to obey God is to be working on those things He’s called you to do.
Do you need to know the Bible better for the task He’s called you to do? Alright, then, what are you doing to work towards that goal.
Do you need a bigger house or more money for a task He’s given to you? How are you working toward that? Paying down debt … Saving money … Getting a higher paying job … Working a little on the side?
Do you need more margin to have the time for an opportunity that He has for you? How are you working toward that? Skipping a weekend’s show binge or an all-night doomscroll might be a good place to start.
The Israelites began making offerings, but they also began working on the temple. Let’s start in the here and now, today, while also working toward the future and the generations to come.
Heavenly Father, I lift up every man and woman who is reading this message at this moment in time and space. Please draw them to know You, to seek You, to love You, to trust and obey You. You are worthy to be trusted. You are worthy to be obeyed. Please lead these men and women on the paths of righteousness for Your Name’s Sake. Show them that straight and narrow path with the light of Your Word and the perfect wisdom of Your Holy Spirit. Provide for their every need; give them the wisdom, time, and finances necessary to accomplish the tasks that You have prepared in advance for them to do. For Your glory and for our good I pray. Amen.
“[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,”
Thank you, Lord!
PERFECT JESUS … MESSED UP ME – FormerAtheist58
Divine Exchange – Charity Gayle
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 35, Lamentations 3
Another “coffee mug” verse that is so much richer when you read it in context. The Lord’s mercies are indeed unending – even in the darkest valleys.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Lamentations 3:22-27 ESV
Great is Thy Faithfulness – FormerAtheist58
Great is Thy Faithfulness – Stephen McWhirter
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 33-34, Lamentations 1-2
Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
Lamentations 2:14 ESV
Truth: The wages of sin is death.
Truth: The gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
Truth: You’re a great sinner.
Truth: Jesus is a great Savior.
Truth: Heaven is a wonderful place
Truth: Not everyone is going there.
Truth: God is so holy, no man could survive in His presence.
Truth: The blood of Jesus, fully God-fully man, perfect and powerful, is sufficient to cover all our sins, by God’s grace through our faith
Believe the whole truth. Tell the whole truth.
False Teachings Mislead and Deceive – FormerAtheist58
Holy, Holy, Holy – Hymns of Grace
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 32, Jeremiah 51-52
It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
Jeremiah 51:15 ESV
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:18-23 ESV
Creation Clearly Displays God’s Power and Wisdom – FormerAtheist58
Rise with the Sun – City Alight
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In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God.
Jeremiah 50:4 ESV
Join me as I chase some rabbits today, looking at 9 different New Testament passages about SEEK.
What are Jesus, the World, and You Seeking? – FormerAtheist58
Seek Ye First – Choir
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 30, Jeremiah 48-49
For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken …
We have heard of the pride of Moab — he is very proud— of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Jeremiah 48:7a, 29 ESV
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
1 Peter 5:5b-6 ESV
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:3-11 ESV
God Opposes the Proud but Gives Grace to the Humble – FormerAtheist58
Is He Worthy? – Andrew Peterson – Highrock Church
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