What an incredible day. I found myself straining to picture it. Thousands of people gathering to hear God’s Word read. They have been starved for this Word. For some it may have been the first time they heard it. And it was being read in the safety of their own walled city with the sacrifices of their
Not only was the Word read, but Levites were explaining the Word to the people. Verse 8 paints the picture well. They [Levites} read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
I thought this was a great picture of what should happen in churches every week… those reading God’s Word making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
This is how we learn about God!
I loved the people’s response. They stood when the Word was read. They wept… emotion flowed from them. They were hearing from their God! On day two they heard and then went out and literally did what the Word said (vv. 13-17)!
The spirit of the Lord spoke to me at this point. “Bill, do you respond and do My Word as Nehemiah’s people did? With joy, wonder and delight?”
I am not sure I do… This drove me to prayer.
Lord, God, maker of heaven and earth, joy of my life and Savior of my soul, I pray for ‘child like’ faith and obedience of these people. Their delight these days was contagious. Lord, I would like to taste this… to delight so innocently in You that I might weep, or laugh! That I would, by instinct, stand in the presence of Your Word and thus honor You.
This, Lord ,is my prayer… prayed in the perfect name of Jesus my Lord and Savior. Amen.
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