Nehemiah 8-9
August 15, 2023
Neh 8:9
And they continued reading aloud from the book, from the Law of the true God, clearly explaining it and putting meaning into it; so they helped the people to understand what was being read
Reading scriptures correctly is important!!!
What are we doing at people’s doors when in the Ministry? Or what are we doing when we’re speaking from the platform, or even when we’re giving comments in our seats?
When we strip out the flowery and tactful language and boil it down to as simple as can be, we are explaining what the scriptures mean. Can we really say we understand what it means if we can’t even read it correctly? These are sacred words and should be treated as such. We all get tongue-tied from time to time, but to routinely treat the reading of the scriptures in a casual way wouldn’t be respectful or dignified.
More than just pronouncing all the words correctly. Read with emphasis and enthusiasm. Not just the one assigned the Bible Reading, even when we raise our hand to read a scripture. Especially in our Ministry we want to read the scriptures in such a way that the meaning is obvious to the householder.
By Nehemiah’s time, they lost their cultural identity. There were a lot of foreign languages spoken. The words may not have sounded familiar to them in its original Hebrew. We can’t just assume everyone knows what we’re saying.
Neh 8:10
the joy of Jehovah is your stronghold
They had just finished rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, an integral part of making Jerusalem safe and secure. Nehemiah here is redirecting their attention to the fact that this is not what makes us safe, it is the joy tha comes from serving Jehovah that is a protection.
The fact that joy, of all things, is that protection isn’t immediately obvious. Consider, for example, Jesus himself. Later in history we are told that “For the JOY that was set before him, he endured a torture stake” (Heb 12:2). Joy is more than just a perk of serving Jehovah, it is the very reason we’re able to endure in this dying system.
As such, not only should we have such joy, we should be looking for ways to contribute to the joy. Ask ourselves how the congregation benefits from my presence here.
Neh 9:28
But as soon as they had relief, they would again do what is bad before you … Then they would return and call to you for help, and you would hear from the heavens and rescue them time and again because of your great mercy
Cyclical pattern of falling into wrongdoing, repenting, and falling right back into the wrongdoing. Earlier, in Isaiah’s time, Jehovah says “You have burdened me with your sins” because they kept forcing Jehovah to rescue them.
In effect, it made Jehovah serve them.
It’s comforting to know that Jehovah is forgiving, even when we don’t particularly deserve it. However, when taken too far, we lose sight of the simple truth that we serve Jehovah, not the other way around. We don’t dictate to Jehovah how we worship. We don’t get a vote or a say in it. He sets the standard and we obey. It’s that simple.