Not Even a Genealogy!
Nehemiah 7
is largely a long list of names. If you
found yourself fighting the urge to skip over the list of names because you
know internally you weren’t going to be able to keep track of them all anyway,
that’s okay. I confess that I did that
as well. Genealogies are one thing,
lists of dozens of seemingly unconnected names are meant to be skimmed in my
book!
However,
that doesn’t mean that we can simply close our Bibles and declare a vacation
day. So let’s do some theology. After all, you came to this site looking for
some spiritual thought – probably more so today than other days because of the
reading we have here in Nehemiah 7. So
hopefully we will not be disappointed in our quest today – even with a chapter
of names.
Dawn to Dusk
There are
several verses before we get to the names, and in these verses there is a neat
thought. Nehemiah was clear about
something: don’t open the gates until the guard can see clearly, and make sure
that the gates are shut while the guard is still present and they can still see
clearly. In other words, don’t open the
gates when people could be hiding just outside in the shadows and don’t wait to
close the gates when enemies could get close to the walls by sneaking in from
the shadows. With respect to the city,
Nehemiah is saying that the town is open for business once dawn is over and the
town will close for business before dusk even draws near.
This is
great spiritual advice, although I don’t think we should take away from this
chapter the lesson that we should only do spiritual work when the sun is
up. Yet, for beginner Christian or
Christians that are in a place of spiritual weakness I do think there is some
warrant to heeding this advice. In human
culture, sin abounds much more prevalently when the sun goes down. If a beginner Christian wants to avoid
contact with temptation until they are more confident in their ability to resist
it, being safe and secure in our homes before the sun goes down is a great
first step. Even doing things inside our
home like turning the TV/radio off before the sun goes down will prevent us
from watching a bunch of programming that might lead us into sinful
thoughts. {Ever notice that fact before?
When the sun goes down, the TV programming becomes quite a bit more …
“influential.”}
However, I
do think that as we mature in our faith and learn to resist the schemes of the
Devil that we can actually do good ministry day or night. So I think there is a deeper lesson in the
opening verses of Nehemiah 7 than simply watching the sun. What I hear Nehemiah saying on a spiritual
level is to be careful to allow access to our innermost spiritual parts only
when it is safe and the enemy cannot sneak in.
We need to be careful when picking spiritual mentors. We need to be careful when listening to spiritual
teachers we might find on TV or radio. {In other words, just because someone is
speaking on Christian TV or Christian radio does not mean we should assume that
they are speaking from God.} We
should be careful when choosing a church as to whether or not the spiritual
leadership is actually spiritual. {In other words, just because people call
someone “pastor,” “elder,” or “deacon” doesn’t mean they speak from God’s
perspective.} When reading books –
Christian or non-Christian – we should be careful to be discerning and read
them when we are in places of spiritual security.
Quite figuratively
I think we can paraphrase Nehemiah’s advice by saying this: “Let not the gates
of your spiritual being be opened unless God is near to you. And make sure you close access to your
spiritual being while God is still near to you and on guard.” It is not good to try and “experiment” with
new theology when we are spiritually weak.
It is not a good time to try and find a new church when we are
spiritually weak. It is not a good time
to try and change our life when we are spiritually weak. When we do things during a time when we are
vulnerable we are likely to allow Satan into the process and we are likely to
go down a path that may seem healthy at the beginning but it really ends up
leading us away from God. Rather, if you
are spiritually weak, draw close to God in His Word and in prayer. Build yourself up with your proven spiritual
companions. When you are spiritually
strong, then it is the right time to open the gates to your spiritual being and
try something new.
The Names
Okay, I’m
almost out of space and I would actually like to say something meaningful about
the list of names. Want to know what is
really cool about this chapter? So far
the book of Nehemiah was all about rebuilding the walls. But this chapter demonstrates that the city
of Jerusalem is nothing without people.
God doesn’t want great edifices; God wants people in relationship with
Him. It is great that Nehemiah could
prepare the city and do the work. But as
we see in this chapter the work is complete when the city is filled with people
coming in relationship with God.
Is not the
same thing true about our churches and religious communities? Programs are good, but people in relationship
with their God are what creates importance.
Church buildings can be beautiful, but the people inside who are in
relationship with their Lord are more beautiful still. This chapter may seem like a list of names,
but this list of names reminds us that our work is to ultimately be about
putting people in relationship with God.
That is where true beauty exists.
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