Return from Exile: Nehemiah 11 and 12 (7)

Pray Psalm 51.10-13.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

Sing Psalm 51.10-13.
(Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
Create in me a clean heart, renew me from within!
Take not Your Spirit from me because of all my sin.
Salvation’s joy restore, LORD, and keep me in Your hand;
thus shall I tell Your strong Word to sinners in the land.

Review Nehemiah 11 and 12; meditate on Nehemiah 12.44.

Preparation
1. What did the people do?

2. Why did they rejoice?

Meditation
As occasionally happened throughout the Old Testament, God brought His people into a season of revival, in which they rejoiced in Him, embraced His covenant, took up His works, and resolved to obey His Law. And like all the previous periods of revival, this one would prove to be short-lived.

But the revival that occurred under Ezra and Nehemiah, besides being a source of blessing to the people of that day, served two other purposes. First, it pointed the people back to God’s covenant and the faithfulness of God in their past. And second, it pointed them forward to a time when all their captivity to self and sin would be removed, and they would have true and perfect freedom to know, love, and serve the Lord.

We are glad to see the people rejoicing, worshiping, offering sacrifices, sharing gifts with one another, and singing boisterously unto the Lord. But we must not miss the main point of all this post-exilic labor and celebration: “God had made them rejoice with great joy”. God was at work in these people, by His Word and Spirit, under faithful leaders, according to His promise, to set aside, albeit temporarily, all self-interest and finish the temple and the wall. God stirred them to work. God gave them the leaders they needed. God made them rejoice. The lesson is clear: Only when God is at work within us according to His good pleasure will we ever know the joy He holds in store for us.

And this is the beauty of the new covenant and the work of Jesus. By His faithfulness, His life and death and resurrection, we have His Spirit dwelling in us, not merely attending to us for a season, but alive and at work within us, willing and doing of God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2.13), for exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or think (Eph. 3.20). This is a cause for great rejoicing, to be sure, and for taking up the work of the Lord day by day.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
At that time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for:
1. The offerings
2. The firstfruits
3. The tithes (Neh. 12.44)

Everything was first rate, first offered, and nothing second-hand.
When God works, He thinks of everything.

God gave us His beloved Son—Himself, really—to give us everlasting life (Jn.3.16).

Jesus said of Himself:
“I AM the light of the world.
He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but have the light of life” (Jn 8.12).

“These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple…” (Jn. 8.20).

When God works, Good Things come out of the storehouse.

For reflection
1. How have you experienced God working in your life of late? Are you rejoicing over this?

2. In what specific ways would you like God to work more in your life? Are you praying about these?

3. How will you ask God to work in your life during the coming week?

The joy of the Lord should produce service for the Lord. Earl Radmacher (1933-2014), NKJV Note on Nehemiah 11.43

Pray Psalm 51.14-19.
Pray that God will be mightily at work in you by His Spirit today, transforming you into the image of Jesus, empowering you for worship, and doing works that are pleasing to Him.

Sing Psalm 51.14-19.
(Aughton: He Leadeth Me)
Deliver us, from guilt, O LORD, You Who have saved us by Your Word;
and let our tongues Your mercy bless, and sing of Your great righteousness!
Refrain vv. 15, 18
LORD, open now our lips to raise to You sweet songs of joyous praise!
Thus let Your favor on us fall, and build and strengthen Zion’s wall!

No sacrifice, no offering would You have us, Your people, bring;
but broken spirits, cleansed of lies, and pure hearts You will not despise.
Refrain

Now build Your Church, raise high the wall of those who on Your mercy call.
And take our lives and let them be sweet sacrifices, LORD, to Thee!
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore 

Two books can help us understand our own captivity and lead us to seek revival and renewal in the Lord. The Church Captive asks us to consider the ways the Church today has become captive to the world. And Revived! can help us find the way to renewal. Learn more and order your free copies by clicking here and here.

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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. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available free by clicking here.