If You Return To Me!

Reading: Nehemiah 1 - 6
My Verse:  "Remember what You commanded Your servant Moses; If you transgress and are unfaithful, I will scatter you abroad among the nations; But if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the farthest part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My Name"(1:8-9).

I want to shout these words to all the world but it would be to not avail!  Oh, LORD God, how You want us to repent of our transgressions and turn to You. That is all You ask and You will bring us back into Your embrace where we belong - "yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My Name."  We just need to return to You!

This is such a poignant story - this story of Nehemiah's faith in You, LORD God.

When he heard of the terrible conditions of Jerusalem he "sat down and wept and mourned for days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (1:4).  He was not hasty to do anything, but after much prayer, four months later he finally made his request of the king.  He was bold and precise in his request.  He knew exactly what he needed.  Through all this he knew that "the good hand of my God was upon me."  So he expected success.

Upon reaching Israel, he told the people why he was there.  Having the king's letter in hand and the royal escort of the kings captains and horsemen must have been very impressive because the people rallied to him immediately.

Nehemiah told them that "The God of heaven will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build."  Then there is this wonderful description of how they worked together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  It was not easy, their materials were not the best, and the enemies were persistent.  It was such that "So none of us -. . .  took off our clothes, and each kept his weapon" (4:23).  Despite these difficulties Nehemiah told the people, "do not be afraid of the enemy;  remember the LORD and imprint Him [on your minds]" (4:14).

This wonderful account teaches me that even when we know You are leading and guiding us we should not expect things to be easy.  I think that is where so many get into trouble or fall away because they think they shouldn't have to struggle.  I often wonder about this - why does it have to be such a struggle?  Yet the more I read of these wonderful followers the more I see that they all struggled.

Help me LORD God to stay the course!  Help me that I may live my life such that others will want to return to You and allow You to "bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set MY Name!"

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Recognizing The Consequences of Disobedience!

Reading:  Ezra 1 - 12
My Verse:  "And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree . . . Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons"(7:21-23).

Here we have another king of a foreign country doing what You, LORD God inspired him to do!  This king said he did not want to experience the bad consequences of disobedience!

First he, King Artaxerxes recognized You as the "God of heaven."
Second he knew that following your bidding was to "be done diligently and honorably."
Third he realized that to not obey You, LORD God would have dire consequences not just for himself but for his sons, "lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons."

 Like Cyrus the Great, King Artaxerxes was a great man, wealthy and powerful.  It is a most wonderful thing to see such men recognize You as LORD of the heavens!  It is refreshing and encouraging.

I have no idea if he had a personal relationship with You, LORD God.  You don't tell us that.  All You show us is how he did obey You.  Some ten plus years later Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah, his cupbearer and friend,  to Jerusalem to continue the rebuilding of the city. This says something of the man and Your interceding for the Jewish people living in exile.

You foreordained that they, the Israelites, would be brought back to their homeland - their exile was to be for a limited time. "All the days that it lay desolate . . . to fulfill seventy years" (2 Chronicles 36:21).  The second time the Jewish people were dispersed was for even longer, some 2500 years.  The miraculously on May 14, 1948 Israel was declared a sovereign nation by the United Nations!

Isaiah predicted this event in Isaiah 66:8 he said.  "Who has ever heard of such a thing?  Who has ever seen such things?  Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?"

Pretty exciting stuff, LORD God!  Reading this and seeing how all the prophecies were fulfilled just as You had stated in Your Word is so encouraging to me as a believer.  I can know and trust and believe that Your Word is truth.  All that you said would happen will indeed happen.   I can be confident of that and like King Artaxerxes live my life with that confidence that You are the "God of heaven".  I can be confident that Your wrath will be the consequence of disobedience to those that refuse to acknowledge You as LORD and supreme King over all that is and will ever be!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

The LORD Stirred King Cyrus's Spirit!

Reading:  II Chronicles 33 - 36
My Verse:  "the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:  Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, had given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up [to jerusalem]" (36:22,23).

This is quite an amazing verse and an amazing piece of history!  Cyrus the Great was not only stirred by You, LORD God but actually did what You stirred him to do!

First, Cyrus apparently acknowledged You as "LORD, the God of heaven."  This could not have been an easy thing for Cyrus to do.  It is said he was raised in the religion of Zoroastrianism which is a monotheistic religion thus making it easier for him to understand the God of Israel.  I still think it was a hard thing, as it is hard for most great men to acknowledge You as LORD.

Second, Cyrus recognized that it was You that gave him victory over all the kingdoms that he conquered!  "All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of Heaven, has given to me."  This is especially difficult.  So many great warriors and conquerors want to take pride in their own abilities.  It is so wonderfully refreshing to see this in a great man like Cyrus.  "Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him, and I will unarm and ungird the loins of kings to open doors before him, so that gates will not be shut. . . . And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, Who call you by your name" (Isaiah 45:1-3)!  Praise You, LORD God for such a man!

Finally, he did what You wanted him to do and that was to restore the Israelites to their country, Israel.  And to help them to rebuild their temple and city.  "I will raise [Cyrus] up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he will build My city and he will let My captives go, not for hire or for a bribe, says the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 45:13).  He responded rightly to the stirring of his heart!

How we need our spirits stirred by You LORD God!  And then we need to respond to You - to the stirring of our hearts.  Oh, do not let me grow tepid!

Thank You for artists like Sarah Grove, who put into words and song the needs of our souls!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

There Is ANOTHER With Us!

Reading: II Chronicles 28 - 32
My Verse:  "Be strong and courageous.  Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him" (32:7).

I must need this message, LORD God for it keeps shouting out to me!  This concept that I am not alone.  This concept that Someone greater than I is ever with me to fight my battles for me.

You tell me to "be strong and courageous."
     -to be still and know that You alone are God!
     -to stand fast in my faith.
     -to "stand firm and hold fast" to Your Word.
     -to "stand firm in the LORD."

This is the great struggle.  There are times when I just want to be done with the struggle.  And yet I know that if I am not struggling, I am not alive.  But does it have to be so hard to hold on - to stand firm?  Does it have to be so constant?

I read of the tremendous suffering and pain of others.  Those that bravely battle back from the depths of despair are amazing and beautiful!  They fall into great depths and yet, like King David come out of it and soar!

I don't feel brave and amazing.  I often want to sink down into a puddle of self-pity.
The darkness of the world closes in on me, filling me with doubt and despair!
The battles seem overwhelming.  The mountains unassailable!

Yet, You gently pick me up.  You gently remind me that I am not alone.

"Blessed be the LORD, Who bears our burdens and carries us day by day, even the God Who is our salvation" (Psalm 68:19).

Thank You for this reminder that ANOTHER is ever with me!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!