We can’t live out God’s Word if we don’t hear it. This daily devotion looks at a time when Nehemiah told us the Israelites not only heard but listened and agreed with what they heard.
Nuggets
- We need to hear God’s Word in order to follow it.
- While God wants us to hear His Word — even more — He wants us to listen to it.
- We have to agree with what we hear and let it change us.
Devotions in Living Out God’s Word series
God tells us how He wants us to live. We just have to listen to when He talks. One of the ways He talks to us is through His Word.
The Israelites didn’t do a good job of listening and obeying. Because if that, they were exiled to Babylon.
Were they going to learn from their defeat and accept they needed to follow God’s laws and commandments.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
A Gathering of the People
“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month” (Neh. 8: 1-2 ESV)
We need to hear God’s Word in order to follow it.
The Israelites did it right. They had just returned from exile.
One day — okay, it took a little bit after Nehemiah got there, but they did it — everyone gathered for the reading of the Law. This is very important.
I can understand why it took a while. They had to rebuild the wall so that they could be safe.
It took them 52 days to build the wall. That was no mean feat according to Nehemiah 1 through 6.
Once they had a little breathing room, they had to realign their priorities.
So, they gathered to hear the reading of the law. They were unified in wanting to hear the laws and commandments, so everyone showed up.
What had sent them into exile was they did not follow the laws and commandments. They wanted to do things differently this time around. They wanted their priorities right.
They really needed to hear what they should do.
Another point is that they had been exiled in a foreign land. They had been exposed to another culture and other religions.
They needed a refresher on what is acceptable to God and what isn’t.
Did you catch that? They told Ezra they wanted the law read to them — all of them, as one.
Oh, what God can do when His church is unified! The problem these days is we aren’t. We want what we want more than we want what God wants.
Another way to look at it is that Israel had really messed up to get them exiled to Babylon. But God didn’t leave them in exile.
God brought them home. He gave them a second chance to get it right.
We aren’t just left in our sinful state. God designed the Plan of Salvation so that our relationships with Him could be restored.
I took the part that the audience was made up of people old enough to understand. Little kids would not have been there.
Maybe.
Griffis reminded us that the Book of the Law would have been written in the old Hebrew language. The common people post-exile wouldn’t have understood it. They would have needed interpreters.
Resource
The result of this, according to Griffis, is the rise of the synagogue. People came to worship on the Sabbath to hear the law and the prophets read.
This precipitated a decline in the importance of the Temple and priests.
There may have been a reason to why the gathering happened on the first day of the seventh month. The seventh month was a sacred month. That would make the first day of the sacred month special, in my opinion.
It may have just worked out that way. I don’t think so.
This is the month where the important high holy days are. The reemergence of the Israelite nation would fit here nicely.
An Understanding of God’s Word
“And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Neh. 8: 3 ESV)
While God wants us to hear His Word — even more — He wants us to listen to it.
It took a while for the Book of the Law to be read. Everyone listened — attentively.
Listening to God’s Word is one way to show Him reverence. We really have to listen in order to have spiritual success and reap the benefits from it.
Ritchie told us how we benefit from listening. He wrote, “God has evermore blessed His own Word as the chosen instrument of all revival and progress in His Church.”
Resource
God’s pick for us to hear about salvation is through His Word. This is how we are regenerated and grow.
Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Yes, we need to share our salvation stories with others. But that can’t be all we do, any more than we can just testify to them through living out our lives.
We have to talk to them using Scriptures. We have to tell it in God’s words, too.
Agreeing with His Word
“And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen,’ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Neh. 8: 4-6 ESV)
We have to agree with what we hear and let it change us.
Nehemiah wasn’t the only one on the platform that day. There was a crowd up there.
No, I don’t know who any of these people were except Zechariah. The Homilist said they were, as Levites, recognized teachers.
Resource
The stage was set for the reading of the law. The pulpit was build specifically for use that day.
It was high enough above the crowd that they would look up. I started to put look up to see Ezra. Really, they were looking up to God.
That would have made a significant impression on the congregation. The Homilist said it would prompt them to follow the law.
We think of Ezra as a prophet. Richtie argued that the was the chief teacher of his day. Being a scribe, he knew his stuff.
Ezra began with a prayer. Ritchie said that prayer is conducive to worship. He wrote, “This devout frame of mind is essential to full spiritual profit in Divine worship for hearing the truth.”
Resource
The congregation responded with an Amen. When saying amen, we are giving our consent and agreement to what was said in the prayer.
You might want to read Woodcock’s sermon on the different elements of what amen means. I am going to look up the verses he cited.
- God Himself — “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation” (Rev. 3: 14 NLT).
- Affirmative — “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16: 28 ESV)
- Optative — [Jeremiah] said, ‘Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the LORD does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all the captives’” (Jer. 28: 6 NLT).
Hook this back to what was said in verse 1. The whole congregation was in agreement — they stood as one.
Each and every one of them “… blessed the Lord, the great God …” (Neh. 8: 6 ESV). I bet Satan was shaking in his boots that day!
Just think about it. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Mt. 18: 19 ESV).
And this was more than two! And they were unified!
We need to pray when we start reading our Bible. We need to start with the agreement with what is written.
The title of this series is Living Out God’s Word. When we say amen, we are proclaiming our faith. We can only live out God’s Word through faith.
Faith is a gift from God and a work of the Spirit that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Glossary
We have to take what we hear and let it change us.
I like what Woodcock said about the amen. He wrote, “The Jews say ‘amen’ hath three kernels; the one is of an oath, the second of faith, the third of confidence.
Resource
We need all all of those to live out God’s Word.
Making the Connections
Don’t be one of those who hears the words but doesn’t listen to them. Listening to them is a precursor to repentance.
Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
Glossary
We aren’t going to be convicted if we only hear. We have to invite God’s Word into us to change our lives.
How Do We Apply This?
- Substitute prayer for sacrifice.
- Seek God.
- Show respect by attending church.
- Be interested in hearing what God has to say to us.
- Do the praying before we start the hearing.
- Listening has to lead to obeying.
- Don’t let familiarity breed indifference.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Resource
Father God. We pray that we will understand Your Word. When we do that, we understand You. Help us to live out the laws and commandments that we learn from Your Word.
What do you think?
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