Wed.’s Devo - Comfort in the Waiting

Read: Nehemiah 3:15; 1 Corinthians 7:25-40; Psalm 32:1-11; Proverbs 21:5-7 The different families repaired the section of the wall that they were assigned and all was going well until Sanballat learned they were rebuilding the wall. He mocked their work, making fun of all their hard efforts. Tobiah his friend commented that if a fox walked on the top of it, it would collapse. Nehemiah was the son of Hacaliah. Their names mean “the comfort of Jehovah while waiting on the Lord.” Nehemiah was just that. When Sanballat and Tobiah tried to hurt the morale of his brothers he prayed that their words would fall back on them and they would become captives in a foreign land. God called their sins to remembrance. Finally, the wall was joined and finished half way up. Sanballat and Tobiah and their people found out and they made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion. Nehemiah and the Jews prayed for God to help protect them. Sanballat was planning to surround them and attack from all directions so there would be no way of escape for them. Nehemiah placed guards in the exposed areas and lowest parts of the wall and stationed the families to stand guard over their own people. He reminded them not to be afraid because the Lord would fight for them. They finished the work with with armed guards day and night. That was not the only problem they faced. They had internal problems also. There was a famine going on and they had mortgaged their fields, vineyards and homes to their fellow Jews just to pay for food. They had even sold their children into slavery to their rich Jewish neighbors. Nehemiah was outraged when he learned all this and called a meeting. He rebuked them for treating their fellow brothers and sisters like foreigners. He told them to stop charging interest and pay back any interest they had charged. He told them that if they failed to keep their promise a curse would fall on them and they would lose their homes and property. The people agreed to do this. In reading the letters to the church at Corinth we have to remember that sexual promiscuity and practices were so perverse at Corinth that Paul advised young virgins not to marry until a maturity came to the church as a whole. He was trying to get them to simplify their lives and put the Lord first. Since their main focus had been the opposite sex, he tried to get them to refocus on what was right before them. If they were married, then focus on their marriage, not the grass on the other side. Most importantly, he wanted them to focus on the Lord’s work and His order of things. Lord, thank you that in the midst of the shaking going on, you are at the helm of our ship and you cause all things to work for our good. You are our comfort in the waiting and we are waiting on You.