“Then I said, 'What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God?'” (Nehemiah 5:9, NKJV) 

Kingdom life involves more than just religious activity. The rule of our Lord Jesus Christ is to govern everything about us. In all we do we are to honor and serve Him. There is nothing about us that falls outside the scope of His lordship. 

Nehemiah has described for us the ongoing work of rebuilding the wall. Shoulder-to-shoulder the people worked, a beautiful picture of community and unity in purpose. Nehemiah has showcased solidarity, including against a common enemy. He has regularly called the people’s attention to the hand of God in frustrating the opposition and furthering the building of the wall. 

Nehemiah was keen not only to call them to prayer but also to call their attention to what God was doing in answer to prayer. That’s the way believing prayer works. David teaches us this principle in Psalm 5. “Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Psa. 5:2–3). The verb translated “look up” is elsewhere translated “keep watch.” We pray in expectation, with our eyes peeled for God’s answers. 

But now the scene in Nehemiah shifts, as does the tone. Our focus is brought from building up to tearing down. “And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren” (Neh. 5:1). Evidently, a poor harvest had caused great hunger and deprivation among the people. They were forced to borrow money and give their children to be slaves. 

This time the problem was not from an enemy without but an adversary from within. Jewish nobles and rulers were taking advantage of the situation to oppress their fellow Jews for their own gain. 

In an exercise of godly leadership, Nehemiah intervened. He challenged the nobles and rulers point blank: “What you are doing is not good” (Neh. 5:9). The governor’s assessment had more to do than with what was counterproductive to the task at hand. It had to do with what was fitting for those whose God was the Lord. That’s why Nehemiah’s countermeasure was to redirect their focus from their own kingdom and righteousness to God’s. “Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?” (Neh. 5:9) 

When our technological devices go all wonky because of our attempts to make improvements or our adding software that ends up competing with what has been installed, the simple solution is to push the reset button, returning things to their factory setting. 

As Christians, subjects of the kingdom of God, we have a factory setting. It’s called the fear of the Lord. The reset button restores God to the center for proper functioning and proper focus.

We need to conduct our lives in wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Once Nehemiah called attention to that reset button and the Jewish leaders pressed it, the situation changed radically. Their repentance brought realignment with the purpose of God and restoration of wholeness within the community. 

Most importantly, it restored proper functioning to worship and work. We are told: “And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise” (Neh. 5:13). 

Rather than plaintive cries of despair, we hear the entire assembly open their hearts in praise to the Lord. They were once again united, rich and poor, esteemed and lowly, together on the same page of proclaiming the glory of their God in pursuit of kingdom righteousness. 

Whenever we find our Christian lives out of kilter or experience some sort of religious inertia, we would do well to push the reset button to restore God’s factory settings for us. The fear of the Lord is the operating system for kingdom pursuit. 

What is the fear of God? How can we restore it to life’s focus? 

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15). 

Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.