Remember Me, O My God!
Nehemiah 13
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, December 22.
No one ever said doing the right thing is easy. At West Point, it was drilled into me, “Do the harder right over the easier wrong!”
Nehemiah had returned to Artaxerxes king of Persia. Upon his arrival back in Jerusalem he was confronted with situations that threatened the well-being of Israel. First, Tobiah the Ammonite official, who had opposed Nehemiah’s refortification of Jerusalem, had taken residence in a large room of the house of God. Nehemiah threw him out (Nehemiah 13:4-9).
Next, the officials had not properly distributed the people’s tithes, which forced the Levites and singers to return to their fields to survive. Nehemiah restored the tithes back to the Levites so that the house of God would not be forsaken (10-13). After doing so, he prayed in verse 14,
“Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services” (cf. Nehemiah 5:19).
Two more times, Nehemiah had to deal with significant violations of the covenant agreement the people had made with God. He restored the Sabbath because of foreign traders entering the city and doing business on the Sabbath day (Nehemiah 13:15-22). He stopped this practice and prayed in verse 22,
“For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.”
Finally, like Ezra before him, Nehemiah confronted intermarriages with the local inhabitants (23-31). Upon cleansing the people and restoring the priesthood to offer right sacrifices to God, he prayed in verse 31,
“Remember me, O my God, for good.”
In every situation, Nehemiah could have done the easier wrong by turning a blind eye to sin, but, instead, he did the harder right.
Seize the moment and take the right next step today and trust that God will remember you and your faithfulness for good. May the God who sees give you the courage to act.
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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