Contentment: The Joy of Small Things

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1Ti 6:6

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 1Co 7:20  

Days of Small Things

There is a scented mystery enwrapped in small things. Big things are the dreams of mankind. But big things rarely exude the whole aroma.

It’s different with small things, small people, small houses, and small gardens. The book of Genesis opens in a garden. It closes in a grave. These are the sort of small things which leave a mark in the heart.  

Christ was born in a manger. He felt the wood with his fingers. He watched closely the way of sparrows, and the lilies of the field halted him in his steps.

And haven’t you read the words of king Lemuel, in the prophecy that his mother taught him, and didn’t you feel the whole skin tighten around you like a drum? “What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?” (Pro 31:2). 

Which brings, immediately in the mind, the words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal. And aren’t you struck with the sheer smallness of this life?

Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? Pro 30:2-4  

These, and small things like this, go up to make my day, every day, in the house of my pilgrimage. What kept the psalmist alive in the nights? Songs!

I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.

Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. 

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. 

I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law. Psa 119:52-55  

Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Psa 42:8  

What is it that keeps you awake the whole night?

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. Pro 30:5-9  

Fifty Years of Anxiety and the Rest

I was long in that prison. I saw no day or night. Except a long dark tunnel which led to nowhere. I forgot the small exhortation: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” God makes the whole difference. He lifts the curtain and we are able to see clearly again. Where the head saw a very big thing, God sees a very small thing indeed, like a mustard seed!

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Mat 6:25-30 

Here is Christ in perfect stillness of the day and night. “Be still, and know that I am God.” We drown slowly in the raucous din. We miss the breath at the rate the world is turning. It wheels fast, as at the throw of a dice. And when the eyes adjust, the light has usually left. In my house I can feel the four corners of my room with my hands.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Mat 5:3-9  

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Mat 7:13-14  

And then they hang him on a cross. And there was no one to bury him but only one small man. Yet in that smallness was the cauldron of the world’s greatest love being knit. “(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luk 2:35).  

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Mat 7:24-27  

The Will of God and Man’s Desire

No sooner had Adam and Eve lost paradise, than their generation was soon up and making new big dreams. We dream of this world all the time, but it’s really heaven that we want.

It’s that itch for big. But big has no end. What happens when a man has reached the top of a mountain? Does the itch stop?

These are the small things that keep me awake the whole night. What is the lake of fire? What is life, and what is death? And what is eternity?

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 

That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deu 30:19-20

So we struggle about the will of God. We struggle, many times, unnecessarily. Let every man abide in the thing wherein he was called. I am a dreamer. I have always dreamt. What are you? Have you been called, being single, or have you been called being married? My dreams are small. They fit in a single room. But having big dreams is also ok. Hope is not ashamed. Baruch was asked not to dream big, whereas Solomon was given a blank cheque. Which one would you choose?

Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. 1Co 7:18-24  

So Paul exhorts: Abide there. Stay there. Be anxious for nothing. Our diversity is what adds to our beauty.

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Php 4:4-7  

Have a blessed small or big day!

Soaring like an Eagle

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isa 40:30-31  

From the Dust of Ennui

Satan has been pummeling me with one lie after another.

You can guess where he has been driving me at, as Charles Lloyd has intimated.  

 Of every state by thee assailed,

None are there, o'er which thou'st prevailed,

Like thine, Satiety!

Thence, Ennui , are the bloated slaves,

Thence, as the Vampires spring from graves,

All that vast train of minions waits on thee!

But God has been faithful. He has countered every lie with his word, and his word is truth. It's true. Satan comes for nothing but to steal and to kill. God offers rest. Satan, in his true counterfeit fashion offers ennui. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Joh 10:10). 

Ennui is that perfect rest, the rest which takes you under the earth, and not above it; the rest where you pull the blanket and cover yourself, and never want to wake up again.

But God giveth power to the faint. God increases their strength. God gives hope. Satan vanquishes hope. God points to the mountain top. Satan points to the bottom of the sea.

Satan the Accuser of the Brethren

Christ says he is the way, the truth and the life. Satan pokes holes in all of that. “Hast God really said?”  

Satan says yes you will feel strong now but in the morning it will go. In the morning you’ll wake up all wrapped in sorrow again.

But (he sidesteps this one) that is you if trust in your own strength. In your own strength even the youth shall faint. But take the LORD’s strength. Embrace it and own it.  

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Isa 40:28-29  

In the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness Christ fought every Satan’s wile with the word of God. We are called to do exactly as our Lord did.  “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Rom 10:11). 

So Christ says come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Learn of me. For I am meek. The meekness of God trusts fully in his word (Mat 11:28-30). 

Will you trust him? Will you answer his call? Will you come? Do you want to be free indeed?

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Joh 8:32  

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36 

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jer 33:3  

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jer 29:11  

Lay before him your burden. Lay upon him all your trouble. Show it to him. Be anxious for nothing. Be courageous. Fear not. He will help you.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Php 4:6  

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isa 41:10  

I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; 

And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? Isa 51:12-13  

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Rom 8:31  

God is still coming down. He's that meek. As his promise says, he will never leave us nor forsake us. He will be with us forever. God is still going to the uttermost to save.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Joh 14:16-18  

 Satan drives down. God lifts up. He is the living water. He is the bread of life. Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isa 26:3  

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Php 4:7  

Hope is not ashamed. Believe it. Embrace it. Wrap yourself in it. Feel the weight of his glory. What shall separate us from that love?

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 2Co 4:8   

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Co 12:7-9 

Christ comes to seek and to save. Satan comes to kill. Satan dotes on self. Me? Why? Myself?

Satan casts doubt. God casts hope. Ask David.

 

But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 

I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Psa 22:9-10  

 Satan condemns. God encourages. Satan accuses. God reasons.

 

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:18  

Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Isa 41:21  

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Joh 6:37  

 God forgives and forgets. He starts a new thing. He gives a new song.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. Isa 61:1-3  

 We May Sing Again!

 Gird up thy loins. Lift up your hands. Proclaim his name who reigns above.

 

Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Isa 42:10  

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Isa 62:4-5  

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. Son 5:1  

 A mother may forget her son. God never.

 

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 

Psa 139:7-11 

 

We May Dream Again!

 

The days went. The days have come. And shall we not say so?

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Isa 49:15-16  

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isa 43:19 

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. Joe 2:28-29 

 

And may God grant our dreams wings to fly again!

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Psa 90:15-17  

Of Wrath and Great Understanding

There is a point beyond which wrath becomes futile. Certainly be ye angry, but don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. To extend it for a day is not wise. The body wears. The mind becomes sogged. Let us now be still. Let God speak. 

Unless we don’t believe him, and in that case we are on our own. The devil is laughing. The devil is busy. Let us be wise. Let us be children of light and not darkness.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Psa 37:8  

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Pro 14:29 

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Pro 16:32  

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Eph 4:26-27  

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Eph 4:31-32  

Bible Men: Ezra

The Great God!

And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Neh 8:6 

Who is Like unto Thee O God?

Drop it. God is great.

Shout it. God is great.

Whisper it. God is great.

Who is a God like our God?

“Bless the Lord O my soul”!

“How great art thou!”

And God can’t be any other way but great.

It is a thought that lingers in the head like the ancient perfume.

It is a thought that stirs like a flame of fire in the heart.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. 

Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. Son 1:2-4  

I open my Bible and the words arrest me.

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Psa 139:1-6 

Really God? 

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.” 

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 

But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Jer 1:5-7

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. Eze 16:6 

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7 

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Jer 20:9 

The God Who Stands Above the Whole Earth

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised. 

The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 

Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, 

Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! Psa 113:3-6

For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. Psa 97:9  

The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. Psa 99:2  

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: Isa 40:15,22 

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psa 8:3-9

I will Sing!

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. 

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. 

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. Psa 27:1

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. 

For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. Psa 47:1-2 

Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power. Psa 21:13  

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 

In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. Psa 95:1-6

Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Psa 113:1-2  

Bible Men: Nehemiah: Building More than Walls

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? Neh 2:19 

The History of Hate

We are children of wrath.

That’s what God’s word says.

Hate is interwoven in the design of our fall. Cain was a son of Adam, and Cain became the first murderer after he killed his brother Abel.

Cain became wroth (incensed/ full of hate) because God rejected his sacrifice.

God tried to reason with Cain, but Cain chose disobedience. He chose the way of Satan.

It is thus hate became ingrained in the eternal warfare between God and Satan.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Gen 3:15  

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Eph 2:2-3 

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Joh 3:19  

Sin is the garment of humankind. Hate then is easy to understand, for a believer. It is not so for a non-believer, who sees hate in everything which does not measure to his liking. 

But God is the standard of all moral values, which is why we believe him. It is when we deny him, like Cain, that sin becomes our desire.

And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Gen 4:6-7  

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jer 17:9  

The Kind of Hate

Incidentally we can’t do without hate. It would be a tragedy. Hate is the other side of love. We go to bed full of love, only to wake in the morning full of hate.

There is a positive hate and a negative one.

The hate of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem ran the gamut of moral history. Their hatred went deep, racking up historical grievances. They may have felt inferior when measured against the God of the Jew, or they may have been storing bitterness at the loss of their land to these outsiders. But now the Jew was in exile, and their roles were reversed.

But then there arose Nehemiah who wanted to improve the social affairs of the Jew (the exile). And it is that which galled the sensibility of Sanballat and his company. “When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel” (Neh 2:10).  

The easiest way to earn the wrath of the world is to try to seek the welfare of the people of God. “But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews” (Neh 4:1).  

Someone wants to improve the lot of lowly people. But someone gets vexed. He takes great indignation. He mocks. He threatens. And why? Because a man wants to do good for the people!

And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Neh 4:2 

When it is Easy to Love the Poor

People can change in an instant. It is easy to love someone when he is poor. What is hard is to see their lives change for the better!

They had been friends before. They had loved before. But not now, and the reason was that someone wanted to improve the lot of these people!

I think that is the proof for me of our depraved nature.

On the surface we might be wearing a smile. But underneath a terrible rage might be brewing.

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 

Their feet are swift to shed blood: 

Destruction and misery are in their ways: 

And the way of peace have they not known: 

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Rom 3:10-18   

Vain men mock. They revile. Yet that never stops the work of God from being done!

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Neh 4:3  

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.  But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. Neh 4:6-9  

Nehemiah’s tools of war were both spiritual and physical. As it is in all OT battles, the people of God took up arms. They won when God was on their side.

And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 

They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. Neh 4:16-17  

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Psa 76:10  

When The Saints Go Marching In

Nehemiah had left a palace life to redeem a desolate people and a city, and his selfless act has been fought by haters from all directions to this day.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:35 

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Joh 15:18-19   

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amo 5:10  

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 1Jn 5:19  

So now we don’t build walls around our cities, but around our hearts. It’s there that the enemy attacks. We don’t guard it with swords, but by his blood.

Don’t fear him who can kill the body but not the soul…