Thurs.’s Devo - Working with Weapons

Read: Nehemiah 3:15-5:13; 1 Corinthians 32:1-11; Psalm 32:1-11; Proverbs 21:5-7 Every district was in charge of a different section of the wall. The priests repaired the wall in front of their own houses so everyone took responsibility for the rebuilding of the wall. Sanballat was very angry when he realized the wall was being rebuilt. He did everything he could to discourage them. He mocked them in front of his friends and criticized their work. Ezra prayed that their words would fall back on them. Finally the wall was finished to half of its height all around the city. When Sanballat, Tobia, and the Arabs, Ammonites and Ashdodites heard of their progress and that the gaps had been repaired, they made plans to come and fight against them and confuse their work. Ezra and the people prayed for protection. The people of Judah started complaining about all the rubble that needed to be removed and that they would never finish. The enemies spread rumors of attacks and those who lived near them reported their threats to Ezra. Ezra placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas and stationed people to stand guard by the families. Ezra encouraged the people to not be afraid of the enemy but to trust in the Lord who is great and glorious. He told them to fight for their brothers, sons, daughters, wives and their homes. When the enemy realized that their schemes were found out and they didn’t work and the wall was still being built, they were frustrated. Work continued with armed guards. Everyone worked with a weapon belted to their side. The trumpeter stood ready to sound the alarm if their enemies tried to attack. Then they would all run to the sound of the trumpet and fight. If this wasn’t enough problems, the women started complaining that they didn’t have enough food to feed their families. There was a famine going on at the time. Others had such high taxes that they had to borrow money just to pay them. Some were selling their children to work for their rich relatives just to get enough to eat. When Ezra heard this he was ticked. He spoke out against the nobles and officials who were charging interest and hurting their own relatives. Ezra reminded them of the cost of buying them back from the pagan nations and now they were doing the same thing to their own. He rebuked them and told them to walk in the fear of the Lord. The people repented and said they would give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. Ezra made them swear to do what they promised or God would shake them from their homes and property. They promised. In Corinthians, it is important to understand this was a letter written in a time of crisis in the world and in the church. They had asked him what they should do during this crisis and he tells them it is not a time to make huge changes. If you are married, stay married. If you aren’t you might want to stay single for the time being. It was just a suggestion because of the state of affairs them were in. I think we could equate their instability with our state of transition now in our nation. These are not times to make huge changes unless God directs and then we follow God. He was telling them that to marry then would not be a sin, there would just be greater obstacles to face than normal. Paul was literally thinking they were facing the end of the ages and their focus had to be on more than just what was going on in their own home. They needed to focus on the Lord’s work because the time was short. If it was short then, it is much shorter now. I think it is wise to read what Paul says about marriage after you are saved… he says that if you marry after you are saved it must be “in the Lord”. In other words, you must marry a believer and be led to remarry. Lord, may our focus be on the big picture of what you are doing and rightly divid our attention. Help us to have wisdom and discernment into our actions and thoughts. We know that you are great and powerful and have great plans for our nation and the harvest. May we work with our full armor on holding the Sword of Truth.