Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Should I Let Go and Let God? | The Writings | Nehemiah 4

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Let go and let God. Jesus take the wheel. God's got this. These popular Christian sayings are founded on a good, true belief: God is in control. But these sayings might also be leading you into passivity instead of action. In today's episode, Jensen shares how Nehemiah 4 shows us that God empowers His people who trust in Him to help bring change in the world. 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 4

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Let go and let God. It's in God's hands now. God's got this. These culturally Christian phrases all essentially lean on the same understanding of God and our relationship with him. God is in control and we are not. God is all powerful. We are not. God can't. God can't. God can make anything happen. We cannot. We can scramble and worry and try to make things go our way, but at the end of the day, God's more equipped, more wise, and better suited to fix the world's problems than we are. And like most of these little sayings that we like to use, they're based on true facts

about God and about humanity. God is more powerful, wise, equipped, and capable than we are. At the end of the day, God's plan for our lives and this world is better than our own. He is king. We are not. That is good theological, biblical truth. But with all good things, we can misunderstand, misapply, misinterpret what these truths mean for our daily lives. And I think that oftentimes, not always, but often, when people use these phrases, it can lull them, into a sense of inaction. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I think that these phrases of letting go and letting God, of saying it's in God's hands now, or God's got this, can very quickly, if we aren't careful, lead us to sit back, to wait for a miracle, to expect God to fix the problem,

to step in. Now, there's a psychological phenomenon called the bystander effect. You may have heard of it, But it essentially says that people are less likely to help out someone in need if there are other people around. In fact, the more people around, the less likely someone is to help. Now, this leads to some really terrible things happening. People being mugged, attacked, or worse, all while bystanders stand by the wayside. Wouldn't any decent human take action, step in, stop the attack? Not always. And it's because of the psychology, behind the bystander effect. Essentially, when there are more people, the weight of responsibility doesn't feel as heavy to any one person. People assume someone else should take care of it,

should step in. They aren't the right one for the job. I think sometimes when we know that we have the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe working for the good of his people, we might feel a bit of the responsibility taken off our shoulders. God will step in. We'll step in. and he'll take care of it. He's the right one for the job. The thing is, this is not what we see Nehemiah doing when he faces trouble in his mission to rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Chapter 4 opens up telling us that there are men who strongly oppose the rebuilding of the wall. And as the Jews continue to rebuild, we read in verse 7 and 8 that these men become very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.

Verse 11 tells us that these enemies of the people were saying, before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work. So these adversaries of the work want to put an end to the rebuilding of the wall, and they're willing to murder in order to do just that. The people aren't safe. Their lives are in danger. God has given them a mission to rebuild the wall, and now that mission is putting them in danger. So what do they do?

Well, as their enemies stir up trouble against them, verse 9 tells us that first, we prayed to our God. So the people are facing opposition, and the first thing they do is pray to God. I've seen Christians say that in times of crisis or following a tragedy, that the only thing we can do is pray, that we need to put it in God's hands. Oftentimes on social media, I'll read posts saying things like, we don't need more laws, we need Jesus. Pray. And I want to be very clear. The best possible thing we can do in a time of crisis is pray. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is good. Prayer is the perfect first step. But it is not the only thing we're called to do. And it's the only thing we're called to do. It's not the only thing that Nehemiah and the people do.

Let's finish out verse 9. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. So the people prayed and then they took action. They set up a guard day and night. The rest of the chapter is essentially Nehemiah recounting all the precautions they took to protect themselves. Nehemiah says to the people, don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your homes. And then he makes sure that every worker is equipped with spears, shields, bows, and armor. Officers are posted, workers are guarded, in one hand a tool, the other a sword. They set up a man with a trumpet to warn the people and to be able. And, put in place a battle plan of where to go when that trumpet is blown. The chapter ends with Nehemiah saying, neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes.

Each had his weapon, even when he went for water. These men were dedicated to the protection of God's people, dedicated to the mission of God continuing and the wall being rebuilt. Now it is important. to notice that Nehemiah turns to God first. He prays. He tells the people not to fear, not to go into panic, not to scramble and worry because their God is great and awesome and he is fighting for them. But that isn't followed by. So let's just keep building without protection and trust that God will miraculously save us from our enemies. No, it's followed by action, strategic, wise, action, action that is built upon the knowledge and trust that God is for them, that God in fact does have this in his hands and that he will fight with them.

But they also knew what has been true from the very beginning. See, God is a God who chose to work powerfully in this world through his people. From the very beginning, God created humans to rule over creation, to care for it, to tend to it, to help it flourish. He didn't need us. He could have sustained creation all by himself, but he made us in his image with the ability and calling to rule. And in Genesis 3, when humanity failed, God began his great rescue story to restore humanity in all of creation, to free it from the curse, a sin, and death. He tells us that there is one who is coming one, who would crush death, who would conquer Satan.

Throughout the Old Testament, prophets speak of this one to come, that he would establish the throne of God's people forever, that he would be the reigning king, that he would establish God's kingdom on earth. And then Jesus comes. He spends his whole life and ministry telling people that God's kingdom is coming and showing them what that kingdom will be like. And then, in an unexpected way,

He's crowned king of all creation through his death on the cross. He's given a crown of thorns, a robe, he's exalted, lifted up on the cross. And when he is resurrected, when he conquers death like God said he would, all the way back in Genesis, he made a way for humanity to be restored, to be healed, to be who they were created to be again. Revelation tells us that we have a hope for a future glory. that we have a hope for a resurrected body to live in God's kingdom and not just that but in Revelation 22 as John is being given a vision of what this kingdom will look like for God's people we read this

there will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it and his bond servants will serve him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and there will no longer be any night, and they will not have the need of light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them, and they will reign forever and ever. Did you catch it there at the end? They will rain. Humans, restored humans, will reign alongside God forever. We are made in his image, made to rule. One day we will reign alongside God. in perfectly restored bodies as restored image bearers and rulers, able to perfectly do what we were created to do. But until then, until that day, Jesus taught his followers, his disciples to go out,

to spread the good news, to help the poor, to be conduits of his kingdom, to spend their days slowly spreading the good news of his kingdom, the values of his kingdom, love, justice, peace, and mercy to the ends of the earth. He doesn't say, hey guys, I got this. I'm coming back, going to establish my kingdom. You can just kick back, let me do my thing, trust in me, believe in me, and I'll make sure you have a nice setup in my kingdom someday. No. He says, go out. Make disciples spread my kingdom, be agents of love, justice, mercy, and peace, take action. Be the first to do good, be busy, fight for goodness because you know who I am. Because you know that I am coming back.

Because you know that you are secure because you love me, partner with me. You were created to rule alongside me. Trusting God, knowing that God is in control, that he is all-powerful, is exactly what should motivate us to action. Nehemiah knew God had called him to build that wall. He knew God had promised to establish his kingdom one day. He knew that God had promised to protect his people and secure in that promise. He stepped up and ruled alongside God. He partnered with God in the protection of his people. God used the trust, faithfulness, and action of Nehemiah to accomplish his purposes.

There's no doubt. God is calling you and I to the same thing. To step into action, to participate in building his kingdom, to fight for justice, to make the spheres of the world where we have influence more and more. like the kingdom of God. Whether you're a politician on a national political stage or a state-home mom, a CEO or a general manager of a local store, you have the power, the calling, the God-given ability to rule and reign over a portion of His creation, and you have been called by Jesus to bring the goodness of his kingdom into your area of influence. Being a disciple of Jesus isn't a sit-backer. and trust exercise. It's a get-up and take action every single day for the glory of God kind of thing.

Is your faith active? Does your understanding of who God is move you to action? It should. See, God does have this. He made you for a purpose. He created humans to be lights to all of creation, to spread his kingdom to partner with him. Step into your calling, into who you were created to be, and rule alongside your king today and forever.