Who Knows?
Today’s Passages – Esther 1-5; Proverbs 3
(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 5 – 8; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
“Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13 – 14)
Esther was in a tough spot here, wasn’t she. She had to risk the good thing she had going in order to confront the King regarding the impending destruction of her people, the Jews. Mordecai reminded her that the very reason why God had placed her in this position was for this very purpose. She had an opportunity given her by God to represent Him; to be His ambassador.
Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you knew that God had placed in a specific place at a specific time for a specific purpose? There have been a few times like that in my life. Sometimes I call them Divine appointments. To think that the God of the universe has chosen you for a particular part of his plan. It sends shivers down my spine. Sometimes, when something unexpected or even unpleasant comes your way, it could be that “it’s a God thing”. In other words God is positioning you to do something wonderful for Him. So be careful how you react to those negative situations that come your way.
I also wonder, though, how many times that God has strategically positioned me to fulfill His will, and I missed it. Maybe, I just did not recognize the opportunity; maybe I was not sensitive enough to the leading of the Spirit of God; maybe I was just downright disobedient to His will. I know that as I sit here this morning writing this thought, it is my desire to be used of God in these situations. I want to be given more opportunities by my redeemer to represent Him on this earth. It is my prayer that He will use me.
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Spring Cleaning
Today’s Passages – Nehemiah 11-13; Proverbs 2
(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 1 – 4; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
In Nehemiah 13, I noticed that there were four things that had crept back into the life of the people of Israel that had to be cleaned out:
1 In vv 4 – 9 we see that Eliashib the priest had actually emptied a chamber in the temple of God, and had prepared it for Tobiah to stay in. Tobiah had been the one who had opposed Nehemiah and the people of God as they rebuilded the city of Jerusalem. He had to go. Nehemiah gave him the boot.
2 In vv 10 – 13 we learn that the Levites had to go back to the fields to work because the people of God were not supporting them through their tithes and offerings. Nehemiah corrected this problem as well.
3 In vv 15 – 22 we see that God’s people were violating the Sabbath by working, and by trading with outsiders. God wanted the Sabbath Day to be kept holy, and set apart from the normal routines of the week. Nehemiah commanded that the gates of the city be closed on the Sabath so that the merchants could not enter in to do their business.
4 Finally we see that the Jews began to inter-marry with the heathen people around them. It got to be so bad that some of the children did not even speak the Hebrew language, but instead conversed in the language of the land where the mother came from. Nehemiah had a fit about this, and made the people promise to separate from peope who were not Jews. He reminded them of how even King Solomon was caused to sin because of his marriages to non-Jewish women. God wants his people to marry within the household of faith.
It is amazing how quickly all of these abuses crept back into the lives of the people of God. Every once in a while we need to have an old-fashioned house cleaning to remove all of the junk that creeps into our lives as well.
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We Will Not Forsake The House Of Our God
Today’s Passage – Nehemiah 8-10; Proverbs 1
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 13 – 16; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.” – (Nehemiah 9:2-3)
“For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.” – (Nehemiah 10:39)
I enjoyed thoroughly reading these three chapters today from the Book of Nehemiah. The people of Israel are back in their own land after having been in captivity for many years. They are united, “in one accord”; and they are fully surrendered to the Lord. This is certainly one of the high places in their history. In these three chapters I have noticed some ingredients that were in place that brought about a wonderful revival in the lives of God’s people. As I already mentioned, the people were unified, which in itself is an important part of the revival; but in addition to that, let me list some ingredients that I observed.
1 They are putting a heavy emphasis on the reading and preaching of the Word of God. We see this in chapter 8, and again in chapter 9. The people stood for a fourth part of the day listening to the Word. We have a tough time getting people to sit in padded seats for an hour. The word caused them to implement many changes in their lives, including the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.
2 There is an emphasis on prayer. In chapter 9, we see the people corporately confessing their sins; and praising God for His mercy and grace upon them. People who are right with God will praise God. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
3 In chapter 10, we see that the people have made a commitment to the House of God. They committed to give their offerings so that the servants of the Temple, including all of the priests and Levites, would have everything that they need in order to minister to the people.
I have left out some other things, but as you can see from the reading today, these three ingredients were part of one of the greatest revivals in the history of God’s people. If we ever see revival again in America, I bet that these three ingredients will be here as well.
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I Can’t Come
Today’s Reading – Nehemiah 6 – 7; Proverbs 31
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 9 – 12; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
“That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” – (Nehemiah 6:2 – 3)
In our passage today we see Nehemiah busy doing what the Lord had called him to do: rebuilding the wall of the city of Jerusalem. He had a job to do, and he was intent on completing it. Now there were also people in the area that were intent on stopping Nehemiah from fulfilling the will of God; but Nehemiah did not let them distract him from completing his work. I love what Nehemiah said: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” The work Nehemiah was doing was certainly great, because it was God that had asked him to do it.
I have a great work to do for the Lord as well; and so do you. God has something for all of us who are His children to do. We must not get distracted from completing the work that God has given us. I have observed through the years that distractions can come from a variety of sources. The wicked one is famous for distracting people away from the will of God. This was the case with Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshom from our text. They were wicked men who did not have Nehemiah’s best interests in mind. They were working against the will of God, but notice how they tried to disguise themselves as God’s servants, and as Nehemiah’s friends. As God’s children, we need to learn to be discerning about the true motivations of the people around us as they attempt to pull us away from the primary tasks that God has given us.
Another type of distraction comes from good people who often invite us to do “good things”; but even these good things become evil if they take us away from the best things. I am slowly learning how to graciously turn down many “good” invitations from caring people. I simply do not have enough time and energy to do all of the things that I might like to do, especially as they pull me away from the primary areas of my responsibility. As a pastor, I get invited to many birthday’s, picnics, graduations, dinners, weddings, conferences, barbecues, etc. I love to be with God’s people, but I simply cannot go to them all.
A third distraction is the distraction God brings your way. There are times that God will interrupt the daily routine in life in order for you to learn something; or maybe in order for you to accomplish something special for Him. Again, we must be very careful that these distractions are indeed from God. Recently, because of the tight budget at the church I have had to go back to a secular job, which requires me to work overnight 6 nights per week. This new job is certainly a hindrance that keeps me from doing all that I might like to do in the ministry; but I am convinced that God has lead me down this path, at least temporarily. My primary ministry is my family, and God has provided this job as a means for my family to be taken care of while still allowing me to serve as the pastor. However, because of this new constraint on my time, I am very limited to what I can do. My life consists basically of working, sleeping, prayer, Bible reading, studying and preparing for messages, and a little soul winning. That is all that I can do right now. I have had to learn to say no to many other things so that I can do these main things. My focus is still on serving God, but I have had to take some time away from that service in order to help the church financially, and in order to put food on my family’s table. God has taught me much in the short time that I have been working, and He has used me to be a light to a very dark workplace. I am not sure how long that God will have me do this, but I know that when it is over I will be a better servant of God because of the experience.
So to those of you who are part of the ministry here at Jersey Shore, and even to my extended family members, I must apologize for my absence at many of the “extra” events that I would normally have been a part of. Forgive me, it’s not that I do not want to be there, but I am very busy trying to do the main things.
Posted in Thoughts from Nehemiah by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Memorial Day
Today’s Passage – Nehemiah 1 – 5; Proverbs 30
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 5 – 8; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
“And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.” (Nehemiah 2:5)
I love reading these stories about people who build something great for the Lord. Nehemiah heard that his home city, Jerusalem, was in a mess and he decided to do something about it. I see in this passage a pattern that can be followed by God’s people today as we desire to be used of Him to fulfill His will for our lives.
1 Nehemiah prayed – He had a burden for Jerusalem and the people of God.
And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,(Nehemiah 1:3-4)
He wept; he fasted; and he prayed for the condition of Jerusalem. When he prayed, he reminded God of the promises that God had made about His mercy on the people if they would turn back to God.
2 Nehemiah performed – he took action.
The difference between Nehemiah and most of us is that he was willing to prepare and act upon the burden that he had. So many of us have a burden to do something; but we never get to the point where we take action. In the local church, we see many people who know what needs to be done; but never actually do it. Don’t just talk about (or worse complain about it); do something about it.
3 Nehemiah persisted – He did not quit.
So many of us today allow the slightest things to knock us off course. Nehemiah did not quit because of the difficulty of the task; or from the opposition that he faced (which will always be there).
When I read these passages, I get excited about doing something for the Lord. I want to be able to say at the end of my life (and at the end of my day) that I accomplished something for the Lord.
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I Am Ashamed and Blush
Today’s Passage – Ezra 8 – 10; Proverbs 29
(Second Milers also read 1 Corinthians 1 – 4; Memorize – Proverbs 13:3)
“And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” – (Ezra 9:6)
Just a quick thought from Ezra 9 this morning. Ezra finds out that God’s priests had quickly polluted themselves by not separating from the people of the land. Remember, they had just been granted a fresh start in the land of Israel by God, but now they had sliiden back to their old ways. Upon hearing this news Ezra is distraught, and is ashamed to even face God to talk to Him about it. He says in verse 6 that he was ashamed and blush to lift up his face to God.
My thought this morning is this: Have we lost our “blush” in America today. There is so much wickedness all around us that we have just gotten used to it. It does not bother us anymore. As a nation, we have lost our innocence. We have lost the ability to be ashamed and blush because of the sinfulness of our nation. God has not changed His mind about sin, and neither should we. It ought to cause us great shame, when we are exoposed to the wickedness around us; but instead we joke about it. God does not think it is funny.
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Stop Living in the Past
Today’s Passage – Ezra 3 – 7; Proverbs 28
(Second Milers also read – Romans 13 – 16; Memorize Proverbs 11:13)
“But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.” (Ezra 3:12 & 13)
In chapter 3 of today’spassage we see the children of Israel (or at least some of them) back in their land after a long captivity in Babylon and Persia. Eventually they begin the process of rebuilding the Temple of God that had been completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar years earlier. Remember, the Temple that had been built by Solomon was perhaps the most beautiful piece of architecture that has ever been constructed, with literally tons of gold covering much of the building itself, and also the furniture and instruments used in the temple. The building that they were in the process of constructing now could not possibly compare to the old one. However, it is important to note that these elder men who were despondent over the lack of luxury in this new temple had actually never seen the presence of God at the old one. At the time that they were there (before the captivity), the glory of God had long since departed because of the falling away of the people of God. So these elders were upset simply because of a building. They failed to see that this new building, though not nearly as ornate and expensive as the old, had the potential for being a place where God would actually meet with His people.
In my 20 years or so of being saved, I have seen this same mentality. I have seen church buildings that were absolutely gorgeous with large auditoriums, countless classrooms, fellowship halls, and even landscaped gardens. However, many of these buildings, though beautiful, have “Ichabod” written all over them. But on the other side of town there is a storefront building with no classrooms, where a preacher and church are boldly proclaiming the Truth, with the Spirit of God all over them. Yet, most people in the world; and even most Christians would say that the church with the beautiful facility is the “real” church.
One more thought from this passage: Sometimes, those that have been saved for awhile, and have seen the power of God in previous years, tend to live in the past. God does not live in the past. Actually he is way ahead of us. We are supposed to be following Him. This is partially what Paul meant when he said, “leaving those things which are behind”. I believe the greatest movement of God is yet to come. I believe the greatest days of Jersey Shore Baptist Church will be in the tomorrows; not in the yesterdays. While I rejoice over what God has done in the past, I am looking for “greater works than these”.
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A Fresh Start
Today’s Passage – Ezra 1 – 2; Proverbs 27
(Second Milers also read – Romans 9 – 12; Memorize – Proverbs 11:14)
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.” – (Ezra 1:2-3)
The children of Israel had spent 70 long years in captivity at the hands of the Babylonians. We cannot really blame Babylon for Israel’s troubles however, as the Scripture makes it very clear that Israel was taken into captivity as a direct judgment of God because they had forsaken Him. However, now at the end of the seventy years, we see a new king, Cyrus of Persia, who is releasing the nation of Israel and giving them the charge to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Again, we cannot fully give the credit to Cyrus for being such a gracious king, as God foretold this event in the Book of Isaiah almost 200 years prior to its happening, even mentioning King Cyrus by name:
“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” – (Isaiah 44:28)
At any rate, Israel is given a wonderful opportunity to get things right; they are given a fresh start. What a wonderful thing it is to be given the opportunity to start all over again. Salvation does this to a person’s life. God gives them a clean slate; a new beginning. While we can never go back and undo our past mistakes, it is great to know that those mistakes are in the past, and under the blood. Israel was granted the chance to go back into the land and live for God, and worship Him as had been originally intended. Sadly, however, history wil reveal that they quickly went back to some of their old ways. We do the same thing, don’t we? God gives us a new beginning, but we soon find ourselves making the same mistakes as we did prior to our salvation. It’s really a shame, but it just reveals that the old sin nature is still alive and well. We won’t be rid of this sinful flesh until we are with the Lord; but we can make the most out our fresh start and do our best to live our lives yielded to the will of God.
If you are saved, God has given you a fresh start. Make the most of it. Experience the fullness of a life filled with the Spirit of God in the very center of God’s will. Every day, we have a fresh opportunity to get it right. Let’s ask God to help us live our lives to the fullest today, representing Him well to the world around us.
Posted in Thoughts from Ezra by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Enough Is Enough
Today’s Passage – 2 Chronicles 34 – 36; Proverbs 26
(Second Milers also read – Romans 5 – 8; Memorize Proverbs 11:13)
“And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” – (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)
God, in His mercy, will send us messengers to warn us of the judgment that is coming if we fail to humble ourselves before Him, and submit to His will. Oftentimes the people of God would turn back to him and would escape the judgment, or at least postpone the judgment. But here we see the people of God, not only rejecting the Word of God; but are also mocking and attacking His messengers.
Today in America, the Spirit-filled preacher of the Word of God is also mocked, and sometimes even attacked by the world around them; and even sometimes by the people of God. God will not put up with this too much longer. There will come a time when God will say, “enough is enough”. And when that happens we are finished as a nation.
But let’s think of this a little more personally. Do you as a faithful member of a Bible preaching church consider the preaching and teaching by the pastor as a message from God; or perhaps do you just think of it as just good information that may or may not be helpful. Are we not guilty of almost the same thing as these people from Judah, when we don’t heed the warnings and exhortation given to us by God through His word in our churches. When you listen to the preaching this week, look past the preacher and focus on the message that God has supernaturally ordained to be given to you through His messenger. Support your preacher: cheer him on as he labors to deliver the message from God to your family.
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But For The Grace of God
Today’s Passage – 2 Chronicles 32 – 33; Proverbs 25
(Second Milers also read – Romans 1 – 4; Memorize – Proverbs 11:13)
“And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.” – (2 Chronicles 33:12 & 13)
In our passage today we see a beautiful picture of the grace of God. The theologians degine “grace” as an unmerited or undeserved favor. In chapter 33, we have the account of King Manasseh who was arguably the most wicked king that the southern kingdom of Judah ever had. He had undone many of the wonderful things that his father, Hezekiah, had done for the nation. Manasseh was into witchcraft, and even had two of his sons “pass through the fire”, which means he sacrificed them. Manasseh was a bad dude, as bad as they get.
In verse 10, the Scripture tells us that God “spake” to Manasseh, but he didn’t listen. God then came in and judged Manasseh by sending in the armies of the Assyrians. Now that got Manasseh’s attention. Now he was ready to listen to God. The Scripture says he “besought” the Lord in his affliction. Manasseh was truly a “new creature” after this moment, and he dedicated the rest of his life to serving the Lord. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to undo all of the evil that he had done before he was redeemed, and even though he finished well, he still has the reputation of being a wicked king.
The first thing that I would like to point out from this passage is that God saves bad people. It is hard for us to fathom the salvation of a man like Manasseh, but God has been in the business of saving wicked men and women for a long time. By the way, it is kind of arrogant on our part to decide who “deserves” salvation. None of us deserves to be saved. We are all sinners, and are all capable of all of the depravity that we have seen in the life of Manasseh. The amazing thing is not that God would save someone like Manasseh, but rather that he would save any of us.
The second thought I would like to pull from this passage is that God had to bring Manasseh down, before he could get his attention. I have often prayed for specific lost people that I know, and I have noticed that God will often allow tragedy to come to their lives in order to get their attention. People who are on top of the world, tend not to take notice of God; but let them go through a severe trial, and they will often re-think things. Though I do not enjoy watching people suffer, I know that the affliction that they may be experiencing today may be the very thing that causes them to turn to the Lord.
The third thought from the passage is that even though it is a wonderful thing that God’s grace reached Manasseh, and that He was saved before it was eternally too late; he still did a lot of bad things in his lifetime. I bet that he wishes that he could go back and re-do some things. But once our time is up, it is up. Manasseh had an appointment with death, and when that appointment came, there was no more time to get things right. We all need to redeem the time, because our time is running out as well.
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” – (Hebrews 2:9)
Did you catch that? – every man – even someone as bad as Manasseh – even someone as bad as me
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