Nehemiah, Day 4
Nehemiah 8 – 9
I am a terrible reader — I struggle mightily to tune things out and focus on what I’m reading. Almost every time I read there is at least one section of the text where I zone out, my eyes move through the words, I may even mouth them out loud, but when I arrive at the end of the page, I haven’t any idea what I just read. Technically I was reading, but functionally I was not. What I was really doing was going through the motions. Nehemiah 8 encourages us to strive for something deeper in our reading of Scripture. Instead of going through the motions, it tells us to strive for understanding, because understanding will lead to impact.
Ezra stood on a wooden platform and read from the Book of the Law. Present at this reading were people who could help the crowd understand the Law. When we read the Word of God, it’s not to satisfy a requirement; it’s to grow — to increase our understanding of who God is and what we are to do to bring glory and honor to Him. It’s to understand Scripture, not as an intellectual concept, but to understand it in a way that leads to action.
When the people understood what was being read to them they began to weep. This is just one of the roles the Word of God plays in our life: it brings us to repentance. 2 Timothy 3:16 provides us with a list of roles Scripture plays in our life. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” In Nehemiah 8, the Scripture brought them to mourn their sin. The Word of God can reveal to us just how far we have missed the mark of God’s standard. Oftentimes, that can move us to mourn our sin. Not only does it move us to grieve over our sin; it trains us up in right actions — it helps guide us to live lives that honor God.
While the Word may bring us to repentance and to mourn our sin, God never leaves us there. Nehemiah 8:10 – 12 tells us, “And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”’
Along with teaching and correcting, the Word of God should also serve as an encouragement to us. The people of Israel understood that the Lord was their strength through the reading of the Word. They might fail, but God never will. We will make mistakes, but even in the midst of our mistakes, God is still doing something great. That should lead us to joy.
Adam Deering