Seize the Moment – Day 1008

Whatever God’s Lot, Be Faithful!

Nehemiah 11

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 20.

 

Have you ever heard of the tooth-to-tail ratio? This is a military statistic of the number of support personnel (the “tail”) it takes to put one fighting soldier on the front line of combat (the “tooth”). In recent American history, it has been as low as 8:1 in the Iraq War. That means for every one warrior fighting on the front line, there were eight military personnel in a support role. While no one is making movies about those eight “tales,” they are the key to the effectiveness of the fighting force. The better the ratio, the better the effectiveness of the actual fighting force!

 

Nehemiah was an organizational genius who strengthened the lot of God’s people in Jerusalem. He did so by repopulating the city with only ten percent (a tithe) of the Israelites who lived in the area, as explained in Nehemiah 11:1-2:

 

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

 

With the Jewish leaders already strategically living in Jerusalem, Nehemiah established a tooth-to-tail ratio of 9:1 in the repopulation efforts of the refortified capital city. For every one family that was chosen by lot to live in Jerusalem, nine other families remained behind to work their farms and continue living in their established communities. Ninety percent would remain on their lands because they would need to provide for the people who were chosen to repopulate Jerusalem. Those who stayed behind would be a necessary blessing to ensure there were enough supplies and resources to sustain those people who were on the front line of reestablishing the foothold of Israel in Jerusalem.

 

Seize the moment and live faithfully whatever God has given you to do!

 

God bless you!

 

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

 

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 

 

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