September 19 - Nehemiah 7:4-8:12

Good morning everyone,

We began our reading this morning with Nehemiah registering the people. Oh my word! I know I am not the only one who has trouble pronouncing all those names :-) The genealogy register Nehemiah reads from is the very same one as we saw in the Book of Ezra. You’ll remember that the genealogies were highly valued as they were the only proof of family line. A lost genealogy put one’s status as a Jew at risk consequently any inheritance that came with that as well.

In chapter eight the walls are all completed, life is trying to get back to “normal” but something is missing, the people are feeling a bit empty. So they gather and ask Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to them and so he did. Now, I am one who can sit and listen for a good long while to someone teach verse by verse through the Bible. I love it, I can not get enough. There are some in church though, when after the pastor has been teaching for forty-five minutes they become very antsy, start checking their watches, knees are bouncing, they’re looking all around wondering when that guy up there is going to be done talking. You know the type. Here we see the people, men, women and all who could understand standing from daybreak to noon listening, basking in the Word and they were shedding tears of joy. I love that!

Friends, we all should have that deep longing desire to hear God’s Word, to thirst, to crave even, to know the warmth and strength of His love. To be assured of the hope in His promises. In Psalm 42, (one of my favorites, btw) we read, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”.  This speaks to the type of desire every one of us should have. It's not something unusual that is reserved for only a few passionate individuals, it is what all Christians do. We  thirst and hunger for God. It is the Holy Spirit working within us, urging us to draw closer to our Abba. Isn’t that beautiful! Psalm 23:5 tells us that God has prepared a table for us in the presence of my enemies, but you have to be hungry if you are going to eat. Right? I would encourage you to get hungry. Get real hungry, intact stuff yourself with food for your soul. God’s Holy Word. 

Have a good day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all ….