August 1, 2024: Thursday Bible Study on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah 9:20-37
May God bless you and keep you throughout this day.
I am happy to be back with you again this morning. We are getting our two 18-year-old boys ready to start at Pima this fall. Yesterday was the day to go get each of them a really good computer. Yikes! Even on sale they were still expensive. I know that each one of us is concerned about our personal economy, and my family is no exception. Our summer weekly offerings at church have not been meeting the budget. Our community in Christ has rarely been able to claim lots of reserves, so that means that just like so many of us at home, the church is living from offering to offering, so when we have a low offering week, it gets pretty tough to handle the necessary expenses. I want you to know that I am thankful for your difficult decisions about your giving. Sometimes we have no choice but to lower offerings, but sometimes we forget that when that time is over, we need to move our offerings back to where they were, and if you are fortunate enough to be able to increase your offering... that is wonderful. Though my family's personal income has greatly reduced this year, we are working to give a tithe of our current income. Over the years we have been able to give 19 to 20 percent of our total income, but like you, our expenses have also increased, so in response to this need in our church, we have committed to giving more. I can tell you it won't be easy, but we are so thankful for all that the LORD has done for us, and American is His Church, so we will do it. Please don't think that if you can't increase your giving that anyone will think less of you, your giving is always between you and God, and God rejoices in the sacrifices you offer through your giving. This is such a great transition into our Nehemiah reading for today.
In Nehemiah's prayer today, we find yet another iteration of the story which the people carried in their hearts and minds about their exile, and their later return to Jerusalem. Nehemiah's prayer reveals how the people, and he himself, see the place of the Judahites in their post exile world. The text tells us that the people now see themselves as serfs, people who must pay tribute to the King of Persia based on what they produced on the land which had formerly been their independent and promised land. They had enjoyed God's abundant blessings, but in enjoying the benefits of the land of Israel, they had failed to remain in the Covenant relationship that God had established for them, and now the consequences of their faithlessness are still present even though they had returned to the promised land. It was now under the control of the Persians and would be also in generations to come under the reign of the Greeks, and then the Romans, and today is in a constant struggle to maintain their independence battling against their own relatives. (Jews and Arabs are half-siblings through Abraham.) Ishmael and Isaac were both children of Abraham, and both had promises from the LORD to richly provide for them. I guess their battle is over who is going to get what from the estate of the Father in Heaven when all is said and done. This text indicates that God is responsible for putting this series of overlords in place with continuing power to subjugate the Judahites because they fell away from His Covenant.
As we all know, there are consequences for our actions, including the ones which offend God. We must remember that God is always involved in our lives, constantly involved, so that we might join the Judahites in being able to say, "This is the way that You have treated us, and we cannot complain!" The good news is that even in the midst of the consequences we suffer, the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob always remains faithful toward us, and through Christ has moved to restore us to righteousness before His judgement. We are saved! And, when we are in trouble it never hurts to appeal to God for His assistance. God is loving, gracious, compassionate, and committed to us throughout our lives. When we are in trouble with consequences of our own doing, it still never hurts to seek God's forgiveness and help. Remember, He Loves us all of the time, not just when we are being obedient to His 10 rules for living right with Him, and with every person, because we are His much-loved creation. But like the Judahites, sometimes God chooses to let us stew in our self-created mess for a while.
Thank you for spending this time with me this morning.
In Christ's love, Pastor Kim
header.all-comments