JULY 18, 2023 – Declaration

  July 18, 2023
  Daily Reading – Neh. 13 / Acts 16:1-24

 GOD’S WORD:

Nehemiah 13:22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

        Nehemiah was a man of his word. Back in Nehemiah 2:6, when he asked the king for permission to go a build the walls around Jerusalem, King Artaxerxes asked, “…For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.” We are not told then exactly how long the time set would be. However, in the last chapter of Nehemiah we find that he had kept his word. In Nehemiah 13:6 it says, “But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:” It was a declaration of honesty on his part, and a testimony of the God he served to the world around him.

        When he returned to Jerusalem, things were already in a mess. People were not worshiping in the temple they had built. Instead, they were buying and selling on the Sabbath. The priest who was to conduct the worship had gown back to work in the fields because no one was bringing in the offerings they had promised that was used to support the work. Some people had married outside their faith again, not heeding the laws of God. When Nehemiah returned, he took firm action to rectify all these situations. It was a declaration of integrity on his part before God, and a testimony of the God he served to Israel. 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

        What kind of declaration are we making with our lives? Does the world around us see our trust in the God we claim to serve. Do people in general see us as honest and people of integrity? Our lives all declare something to someone, whether we mean to or not.

What does your life declare?