Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - God Doesn't Give Up | The Writings | Nehemiah 1-2:10

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Do you read your Bible like Aesop's Fables? Can you serve God without working in ministry? Do you have the humility to honestly confess your sins? In today's episode, Keith shares how Nehemiah 1-2:10 reminds us that God uses ordinary people for His extraordinary purposes. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Nehemiah 1-2:10

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I think a lot of us read our Bibles like we're reading something out of Aesop's Fables. You know Aesop's Fables, right? There are short stories that teach a moral lesson. For example, I'm sure you're familiar with the story of the tortoise and the hair. The two animals agree to erase that the hair should easily win. So the hair speeds out to a lead but then gets distracted and lazy while the tortoise just keeps going until he crosses the finish line. The moral of this story is

Slow and Steady wins the race. Be like the tortoise. Or consider the story about the mouse and the lion. In that fable, the lion is getting ready to eat the mouse, but the mouse begs for his life and says that the lion shouldn't eat him because someday he might be able to help him out. The lion laughs because that seems highly unlikely, but he agrees not to eat him.

Some time later, the lion is captured in a hunter's trap. The mouse walks by, sees the problem, and shoes through the rope holding the lion. The moral of the story is be kind to everyone, because you never know when you'll need help. Be like the lion and the mouse. These are great stories with valuable lessons, but the Bible isn't a collection of short stories

inculcating moral values. So we shouldn't read the Bible the same way we read Asap's fables. We read the Bible wrongly when we think the point is to be like Moses or be like Paul or be like Esther or be like Mary. One reason we read the Bible wrongly, one reason we read it like Asap's fables is because we don't know the storyline of the Bible.

We don't understand how all the stories and books fit together to tell one big story. Well, today we start a new book on TMBT, and that's the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah. There have been lots of Christian books written on Nehemiah that tell you to be like him. He was a great leader. He built a wall around Jerusalem. Therefore, you should look to him for leadership lessons or for insight on building projects. But the book of Nehemiah has so much more to teach us. Anytime we start a new book of the Bible, it gives us a chance to retell at least part of

the biblical story. So let me set this scene for Nehemiah. All the way back in Genesis, God had made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and part of that covenant promise is that he would give Abraham's descendants a land, but staying in that land was conditional on the people keeping the covenant. Here's Genesis 17. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give you as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God. then God said to Abraham, as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. In other words, the land is not a possession that can be enjoyed apart from God. Possessing this land is contingent on Israel's ongoing faithfulness to God and obedience to his law.

The land, therefore, is a gift of the covenant. It's not a possession that can be held independent of the covenant. Both Leviticus and Deuteronomy warn Israel in very stark terms about the conditional nature of this problem. Here's Leviticus 18. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were for you. Here's Leviticus 20. Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. Well, the Israelites are unfaithful and eventually God kicks them out of the land. First, the Assyrians come in 722 BC and take the northern ten tribes into captivity. And then in 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,

conquers Jerusalem and takes the final two tribes back to Babylon. And there they sit in Babylon until King Cyrus of Persia conquers Babylon. Persia had more of a live and let live approach to the people they ruled, so King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem. That's where Nehemiah and Ezra come in the biblical story. They are both part of different delegations that return to the land. Nehemiah is a leader and builder, and Ezra is a priest who teaches and trains the people. In Nehemiah chapter 1, we learned that Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian king. Now, the cupbearer was responsible for the food and drink that made it to the king's table. Beyond the responsibility of obtaining the food and overseeing the staff who prepared it,

the cup bearer was also responsible to make sure no one poisoned to the king. And this was a real threat in the ancient Near East. So the cupbearer was one of the king's most trusted advisors. It says a lot about Nehemiah, the Jewish man, that the Persian king put him in that position. I want you to notice that Nehemiah served God while on staff of a pagan king who didn't worship Yahweh the God of Israel. Nehemiah did his job with excellence and was able to advise the king on important matters. This is a good reminder that you can serve God, whether you're a student or have a part-time job or are more established in your career. Nehemiah shows us that you don't have to work for a church to serve God in your profession. In the New Testament we read that you should do your job with excellence because you're really working for the Lord, not your employer.

As King Cyrus' cup bear and advisor, Nehomiah heard that there were some Jews who had gone to Jerusalem and found that much of the city had been destroyed. Here's chapter 1, verse 3. They said to me, those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire. I think Nehemiah's response is really helpful to us. Verse 4, it says, when I heard these things I sat down and wept. for some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. When he heard God's people were suffering, Nehemiah was deeply grieved.

His initial reaction wasn't to fix the problem. It was to weep and pray. He ended up praying and fasting off and on for four months. Yes, of course he still went to work, but in these four months he gave extra attention to seeking the Lord. And the bulk of chapter one is Nehemiah's prayers, what he prayed to God, once he heard that the city had been destroyed. He prays, Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with those who love him and keep His commandments.

Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you, day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. So Nehemiah starts by addressing God as the one who keeps His covenant with those who keep His commandments. God had saved them, but they were responsible to obey Him. God's rescue and salvation was never given as a reason to live their own. own way. Instead, they were now free to obey and follow God. In the prayer, Nehemiah says, I confess the sins, we Israelites, including myself and my father's family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses. So notice that Nehemiah doesn't confess Babylon's sins

or Persia's sins, although he was very familiar with both. Instead, he confesses the Israelite sins. And notice he includes himself in those sins, even though he wasn't actually present when they were originally committed. He wasn't even alive at that time. But he knows that God made a covenant with the nation, and that he would have done the same thing had he been there. He's not any better than the Israelites who lived before him. The prayer goes on, remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.

Nehemiah says, look, God, you've kept your word. Yes, we disobeyed you and you kicked us out of the land, but you also promised to heal and restore us if we repent of our sins and seek you. That's what Nehemiah is doing. He's repenting and seeking God, and he finishes his prayer by asking for God's grace because he's getting ready to go and ask the king to return to Jerusalem so that he can rebuild it. In chapter two, the king notices that Nehemiah is sad and so he asks him what's wrong and we pick up the story in verse four. The king said to me, what is it you want? Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king. If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can

rebuild it. Do you notice this short prayer? Sometimes we pray long prayers over many weeks and months like we saw Nehemiah doing in chapter one, but sometimes we pray short prayers in a moment of great need like we see Nehemiah do in chapter two. Maybe you offer a short prayer before giving a presentation at work, or before having a hard conversation with one of your teenagers, or before making a big purchase. There's never a bad time to offer a short prayer to God. Maybe you're asking for wisdom or grace or the right words to say, or that you would be motivated to seek his approval and not other peoples. Or maybe you just need to remind yourself on that short prayer that you're not alone, that God is with you. Well, to start of the book of Nehemiah, we see that God is on the move.

Yes, Jerusalem is in shambles, the people have been exiled, but God is doing something. He's beginning to call his people back. God hasn't given up on his people or his plan to bless the nations through them. And maybe that's a good reminder, that while While sin has consequences in our life, God doesn't give up on us. He doesn't give up on sinners. Maybe you've blown it in your relationship with God. There's always time to turn back. He hasn't given up on you. Amen.