Author: CaseyRClark

Posted on

God worked through Nehemiah to bring many together

As I read Nehemiah I can’t help but think about the amazing things God can do through us when we come together. It is a typical warm, fuzzy notion to have–everyone working together to make the world a better place. But we leave God out of that equation too often. When God works in the one man Nehemiah it is not done there. God works through him to reach countless others. (Maybe not countless since much of this book deals with lists and numbers!) The job at hand couldn’t have happened had it not been for the way that these people sacrifice for one another, seek after the needs of others before there own, and pool their resources.

There is very good reason we’re called to be a people, not a person. We are much better together. We need the church body. We need it to be encouraged and strengthened, we need it be held accountable, we need it to do greater things for God than we ever could do alone.

Posted on

Nehemiah’s Mourning

In the opening of Nehemiah hears the sad news of what state Jerusalem is in and in response he weeps and mourns for days. I think if we saw this godly sort of grief happening we might think something was wrong–not with the situation of Jerusalem being in ruin–but rather with Nehemiah. Days of mourning? We might try to tell him to think about something else. Do something to get if of your mind. Don’t be so glum.

But this is not a mourning that bears no fruit. He is deeply affected by the news he has heard and it leads him to action. His sorrow leads him to put everything on the line, going to the king and asking leave to return to Jerusalem. Once there it leads him to repent with his countrymen. It leads him to give generously from his wealth to sustain the building projects. And this is not just a simple construction site. It is full of danger. Nehemiah is moved at this news and does not just write a check and send it off, while staying in safety. He goes to the city and together with the people stands guard against his enemies who intend to attack. To rebuild the walls is not an easy endeavor and it is a dangerous one for all who are involved. God used Nehemiah’s mourning to him to action and sacrifice in order to accomplish God’s will.

Posted on

Introducing Nehemiah

I learned during a Walk Thru the Bible seminar years ago when I was in youth group a way to remember some of what Nehemiah is about. It helps if you say Nehemiah out loud first to hear what it sounds like. The instructor said Nehemiah can be remembered by slightly mispronouncing his name as Knee-High-Miah, and that was as tall as the wall he was building. Now this may not actually be factual–but it is a bit ridiculous and the more ridiculous something is, the easier it is to remember. I hope you’ll now always remember that Nehemiah involves the rebuilding of a wall.

It is thought that this book was originally coupled as one book along with Ezra, under that name. I tried to then couple them in our reading, but reversed the order of Scripture because I wanted to balance out the number of chapters so that as we get even closer to Christmas we’d be reading the Christmas story from the book of Matthew. Both of these books gives details regarding the return from exile and the work of returning life to its proper order, including worship and rebuilding projects.

Posted on

Fireside Chat with Nebuchadnezzar

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the golden idol that King Nebuchadnezzar set up. (Try coming up with a sentence with four crazier names.) The consequence of this was that they were to be thrown into a furnace, one that was burning so hot it killed the men who were to carry out this deed. But on the way to their almost-certain death, these three men talk to Nebuchadnezzar as he presses them to worship false gods.

King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. (Daniel 3, NIV)

It is amazing to me that these three have such confidence before a furious king. And their confidence is not in their comfort or safety. Whether they live, because God delivers them, or they die they still have confidence that God is the one God, and nothing else is deserving of worship. They do not worship God because he blesses them, they worship him because he is God. He deserves it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego won’t dishonor God in such a way, and they want the king to be aware of their devotion. They serve God and they do so even if he won’t deliver them.

That is a difficult prayer for us to make as we always want God to see things our way and help us out in a bind. But we need to seek to honor him no matter how situations turn out for us. We need to finish our prayer with our own version of “even if he does not”, and a good one is taken from Jesus who prayed just before his great suffering, “not my will but yours be done.”

 

Posted on

Daniel’s Diet

How could I give this up?
How could I give this up?

First off-apologies for my absence from posting. I usually post during the week, but I have been ill since Monday afternoon. I may still be a carrier, but such things do not transmit via the internet. You should be safe.

In reading the first chapter I was reminded of something I had heard of a while back that some churches were doing (and there is even a book associated with it), that is the “Daniel Diet.” I’ve seen it also called the Daniel Plan, the Daniel Fast, etc. Upon reading this passage folks thought, “why not?” So churches and other groups have tried it.

While I cannot attest to its health benefits I like the idea of seeing something in Scripture–something simple–and trying to do it. We sometimes can see something simple, turn it into something complicated, change it in all sorts of ways as we try to translate it from centuries ago to today’s culture, and in the end it is something altogether different.

We do at times need to do such translations. For example, not many of us are tempted to set up wooden totems devoted to foreign gods within our homes, but we are just as susceptible to idolatry today as God’s people were in the past. On the other hand we sometimes make things over complicated like when Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Surely we learn from that story that we can’t exclude people. Neighbor can be applied to anyone. Yet neighbor still does mean those people who live right next to you. In all of our attempts to understand “love your neighbor” we sometimes neglect our next door neighbor.

So I like the simple approach to the Daniel diet. I may not agree with all of its tenets*, although there probably is variety among the different types, but they’re trying it. They see something do-able and do it.

This may not be the thing for you, but what else does Daniel do that we could imitate? Prayer three times a day? I think that is simple, do-able, beneficial. How about a Daniel Diet of Prayer? Three square meals of time talking with God? I bet that’ll do our body good.

*In just a brief reading I saw one sight equating the mind to emotion, which I don’t think is right.

Posted on

Daniel and Friends in a Foreign Land

rembrandt lion
These friendly felines are in his future.

When you open Daniel you may think you’ve gone back to our history blitz since 2 Chronicles finishes in a similar way to how Daniel begins. Not only has Judah been attacked, but they have been brought into exile. Daniel is among some of the elite that are chosen to train in the king’s palace. But don’t let the sound of that invitation fool you since only eight verses in we see a problem. Daniel does not want to defile himself with the food he is offered and has his guard give him and his three fellow exiles vegetables and water.

The end of this is that God softened the guard to be permissable and blessed Daniel and company. But it is just the tip of the iceberg in relation to how exiles are to maintain their worship and their faith in a hostile, foreign environment.

So much of worship in the Old Testament is very localized and geographically bound. Without the temple or the priests doing their jobs, how are they to offer up praise or sacrifice to their God? How can they keep themselves from being overwhelmed by this opposing culture of the Babylonians?

Think of the difficulties you might have trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in a country that doesn’t do the same? Or how about Christmas? You could do something, but it wouldn’t be the same. The Fourth of July that we kick off with grand fireworks and big bands would be hard to muster if you are an alien living abroad all alone. But these examples would be nothing compared to what is on the line for the people of God taken in to exile. They must look at their history and their relationship to God and figure out ways in which they can carry on. God’s promise was for a promised land, so what does it mean if they are taken away? God had them make for himself a temple, but that was left behind. Now what?

One thing they turn to and we see in Daniel is prayer, but even that will eventually get him into trouble with his new land.

Posted on

Our Stunning Ability for Self-Deception

Our focus passage this week was a shorter selection with only a handful of verses from the end of chapter one. But in those few verses we see what I believe is a progression of deceit.

In the context of our sinfulness and subsequent confession, John looks at three lies and their implications.

Verse 6
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Verse 8
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Verse 10
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The first is an example of someone who is sinning yet claiming such sinful behavior is good. They walk in the darkness, but call the darkness light. In a somewhat similar vein the second example is an equally foolish position, claiming to have no sin. Since all of us have sinned and no one is righteous, the only way to claim to have no sin is to again call good what is truly evil. The third example again claims that we have no sin, and this gets to the implication that if we have no sin, we need to savior. If we have no need for Christ then we have made him and God out to be liars.

I don’t think John is going through an abstract hypothetical here. I think he brings these points up because he has come up against similar claims. So he lays it out plainly, showing the reader the ability sinful humanity has for deception. In verse six “we lie”, verse eight “we deceive ourselves”, and in verse ten we go so far as to “make him a liar.” We lie to others, lie to ourselves, and portray God as a liar.

The second one really struck me when I studied this before. Our lies will carry us to the point of even lying to ourselves. One translation renders it that “we fool ourselves” and another that “we lead ourselves astray.” We repeat a lie so often that we begin to take it as truth. What an indication of the effects of sin in our own lives and our inability to judge what is right. We can fooled with no one to thank but ourself. It is one thing for someone else to try to deceive us, but we easily go along with our own lies.

Really think about that phrase: deceive ourselves. What is key to being able to deceive someone else? You know something that they do not. You are aware of the lie, but they are ignorant. If the other person knows the lie, your chance to deceive vanishes. So how in the world could we play both parts? How can we taken in by deceit in such a way!? How can I both know the lie and believe it? But again, I think this is revealing of our fallen nature and how we are in such dire straits thanks to sin. We are enticed to believe just what we want to believe and in pursuit of that, we’ll swallow just about anything.

Perhaps this could get too detached from reality, but John gives us great examples. If not self-deception what is it when we claim to be in the light or to love God yet we hate our brother? (1 John 2:9 and 1 John 4:20) To love God is to love our neighbor and follow his commands, so how can we claim to be loving him and following him while at the same time hating the ones he came to save?

Let’s not let that last question be rhetorical. How? Because we feed ourselves lies. We deceive ourselves into thinking we can do whatever it is we’d like to do. We believe all that we do is good, and even the sin we commit is thought of as walking in the light.

We need to be reminded by books like 1 John of what is true. We need to be reminded of what is in the light and not to do so by following some inner light found within me. To seek truth and not some knock-off, second rate, unsatisfying counterfeit, we need to steep ourselves in the Bible, surround ourselves with wise sisters and brothers, and desperately and humbly seek God in prayer. If we acknowledge that we, like anyone else, can fall victim to such self-destructive self-deception, then we know we need others. I can’t do this on my own, and left to my own devices I’ll be so much more likely to weave my own truth. I need and we all need to submit ourselves to God’s Word, and seek to test ourselves according to it.