“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
I usually do book reviews on Mondays. I didn’t this week so let’s talk about a book that I am writing out right now. I’m not the author but I do love to write. Every morning when I get up, I enjoy spending time with God and reading His Word. Over the years, I have begun to write out the Bible, book by book. It has been an enriching experience and one that has been profitable. I slow down while writing and dwell more on each verse.
Currently I am writing out the book of Nehemiah.
This probably rates as one of my favorite books in the Bible. I don’t tend to have favorites in life (isn’t everything great that we have?). But, I really really like the book of Nehemiah.
This man, Nehemiah, was a humble slave, a cupbearer, to the King of Persia. While his age isn’t given, he might have been a young man with a big responsibility. His job was to taste all food and drink for the king to make sure no one had poisoned it. The stress that must have been daily on him and yet he bore it joyfully.
How do I know this? The king noticed one day that he was not happy and asked him why. Nehemiah shared with him that his beloved city of Jerusalem was falling down. It was crumbling. No one was fixing the walls or keeping it in order. The king then allowed Nehemiah to leave Persia and go with some men to fix the walls of Jerusalem.
There are 3 themes basically in this book which are: leadership, prayer and community restoration.
The first half of the book deals with his journey to Jerusalem and it’s restoration. The last half shows how he encourages reform of the people (their hearts being far from God) as well as the reading of the Law and dedication of the wall.
This is a book worth studying as you will see that time after time the children of Israel left their God. Their lives spiraled down into chaos and degradation as they suffered sickness, being overtaken by the enemy and so much more. When they would turn back to God, the blessings would pour forth and their gratitude is well noted.
Nehemiah helped the people during his time to see their need to turn to God once again (mid-500BC).
There may be a lot of names in Nehemiah, each one is important not only to the rebuilding of the wall but to God. It may feel like a struggle to read these names but I encourage you to read the book of Nehemiah because it will encourage you.
A people coming together as families and friends to rebuild not only the walls of their city but their lives as well.