Skip to main content

One Year Bible: Day 355 - Nehemiah 1:1-2:20; Revelation 16:1-21; Psalm 147:1-11

How do we respond to adverse circumstances? We can respond in a godly way or we can respond in a worldly fashion. "The walls of Jerusalem ... had been broken down, and its gates ... had been destroyed by fire" (Nehemiah 2:13). Nehemiah responded with faith in God: "Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem ... The gracious hand of God is upon me" (Nehemiah 2:18). "Sanballat ... Tobiah ... and Geshem" responded in a worldly way: "They mocked and ridiculed us" (Nehemiah 2:19). There are still two quite different responses to suffering. In faith, we can say, "You are just in these judgments, You who are and who were, the Holy One ... Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments" (Revelation 16:5,7). There is also the negative reaction: "They cursed the Name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him" (Revelation 16:9,11). Scripture leaves us in no doubt that the better way is the way of praise - "How good it is to sing praises to our God" (Psalm 147:1). We see that "the Lord builds up Jerusalem" and we give praise to the Lord (Psalm 147:2). This "building up" of Jerusalem is more than building with bricks and mortar. It is the gathering together of the Lord's people, the healing of the broken-hearted, the binding up of their wounds (Psalm 147:7). As we consider this "building up", which is the work of God Himself, we are to "sing to the Lord with thanksgiving" (Psalm 147:7). When we choose the way of praise rather than the way of complaint, we bring delight to the Lord: "The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love" (Psalm 147:11).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Let Us Pray For More Of God's Blessing.

What God did for His people, Israel, was very great. There is a striking contrast between their slavery in Egypt and their abundance in the promised land. God had multiplied His blessing upon them, just as Jesus did when He turned water into wine (John 2:1-11). If the blessing is to be maintained and increased, we must honour the Lord. We must cry to Him for blessing: "Hear my prayer, O God, listen to the words of my mouth." We must call upon Him with faith: "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me" (Psalm 54:2,4).

God’s Blessing .

“The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (Genesis 39:5). God’s blessing overflows. We go back to Genesis 39:2 – “the Lord was with Joseph.” God was blessing Joseph – and His blessing overflowed to others.

Reaching out with the Good News of Jesus Christ

‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation.’ Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him.’ We are ‘not to accept the grace of God in vain’ by living for ourselves. We are to be ‘ambassadors for Christ.’ We must proclaim the urgent message of salvation - ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.’ We must call men and women to respond to God’s message of salvation: ‘Be reconciled to God’ (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2). If we are to be effective ‘ambassadors for Christ’, we must dedicate our lives to Him: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves… and make holiness perfect in the fear of God’(2 Corinthians 7:1). Without this heartfelt commitment to godly living, we cannot really serve the Lord at all. Our wrong lives will drown out our ‘right’ words. We need true lives as well as ‘true’ words.