"I Am Doing a Great Work and I Cannot Come Down" (9/27)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Nehemiah 6-7.

As the walls of Jerusalem were nearing completion, the enemies of the Israelites made an effort to pull Nehemiah away and disrupt the work.

Then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me [Nehemiah], saying, ‘Come, let us meet together at Cherphirim in the plain of Ono.’ But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?’” (Nehemiah 6:2-3).

Though these men invited him, Nehemiah refused to come. Even when they spread false rumors about him and threatened to report him to the king, he refused to abandon the work (Nehemiah 6:5-9). There are two important lessons that we can learn from Nehemiah:
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Why the Righteous Do Not Beg

Workers

The psalmist had an interesting observation regarding the state of the righteous and how they were blessed by God.

I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

This is not to be interpreted as an absolute statement. There may be times when godly people are in such dire straits that they have no other option than to beg. Lazarus was one example of this. We know he was righteous because when he died he was “carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” to enjoy a place of paradise (Luke 16:22). Yet during life, he was “a poor man…covered with sores” who longed “to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:20-21). After he died, because he was righteous, he was “comforted” in a place of paradise (Luke 16:25).

Although there are exceptions, generally speaking, those who are righteous will be far less likely to have to beg than others. Even now when God no longer operates miraculously as He did during Bible times, the psalmist’s statement is generally true. Why is that? There are several reasons we can find in the Scriptures that explain why the righteous, in general, do not beg.
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Government Aid Hindering the Spread of the Gospel

The following is a quote from J.D. Tant (1861-1941) containing some of his observations about how government aid to the Indian tribes not only provided a disincentive for them to work, but also made it much more difficult to reach them with the gospel.
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"Cursed Be the One Who Does the Lord’s Work Negligently" (8/22)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 46-48.

Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood” (Jeremiah 48:10).

Much of the book of Jeremiah focuses on the sins of the people of Judah and their coming judgment at the hands of the Babylonians. Yet Jeremiah indicated that God was going to use the great Babylonian army to punish more than just the inhabitants of Judah. The Babylonians would devastate other nations as well. As these prophecies indicate, this was also the work of God. The verse above can be found in the prophecy against Moab.

Those doing the Lord’s work in this context were the Babylonian soldiers. God was sending them to punish the Moabites. In executing this punishment, the soldiers were not to be negligent of their task, or else God would curse them.
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Preaching Politics

Michelle Obama recently said there is “no better place” than church to talk about political issues. To some extent she is right. While not all political matters are worthy of our discussion in the assembly of the saints, those “political” matters that are addressed in the Bible will be taught by faithful men who are striving to speak as the oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11), proclaiming the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Therefore, we speak where the Bible speaks, even on certain “political” topics. Some examples of such topics are listed below:
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Rising Number of Stay-At-Home Dads: What Does the Bible Say About This?

Stay-at-home dad

A recent study has shown that the number of “stay-at-home dads” has doubled in the last decade.

While we might expect the poor economy and layoffs among men to be a factor, many of these men who are staying at home to be the primary care-giver for the children are doing so as the result of a mutual decision made by both parents. The article cited above states: “But according to the results of a new study by Boston College, the rise may be due more to choices and evolving gender roles of parents” (emphasis mine).

In this arrangement, the wife is the one who leaves the home for the workplace and the husband either quits his job or chooses not to look for a job so he can stay home with the kids. As this becomes more common, it is important for Christians to be reminded about what the Bible has to say that relates to this issue.
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Each Wore His Sword As He Built

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, the workers were mocked and threatened by their enemies (Nehemiah 4:1-3, 7-8). Nehemiah and the Jews needed to address these threats without neglecting their rebuilding project. So a solution was found.

From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me. I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.’

So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At that time I also said to the people, ‘Let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.’ So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water” (Nehemiah 4:16-23).

There are several lessons for us to learn from Nehemiah’s plan. Today we are part of a spiritual kingdom (John 18:36) engaged in a spiritual war (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). But although the nature of the conflict is different from the one which Nehemiah and his countrymen faced, the following points will apply to us and our spiritual battles just as they did with the Jews and their physical battles.
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