October 15, 2016: SOAP #2508:  Nehemiah 13; Malachi 1-2; Acts 4

Scripture:  Nehemiah (NIV) 13:6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Sometime later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.  9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.

Observation:   Nehemiah had been in Jerusalem earlier and had set things in order.  Then he had to return to his responsibilities in Babylon where he served the king.  After a while, he asked permission to return to Jerusalem.  There he found that Tobiah, who had resisted the Jews in rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:10 and 4:3) was now being allowed to live in the temple!!!

Application:  It is amazing how easily the enemy of our soul can slip into our lives and become a part of our affections.  We need to cleanse and restore the temple of our lives.  There may be priorities in our lives, our homes our church that have slipped and need to be re-established.   We once honored God by tithing, or serving in a special ministry, or having daily times dedicated to the Lord.  We need to be like Nehemiah and restore God’s priorities.

Prayer:   Heavenly Father, in our nation we have allowed dangerous people to slip and take up residence in our government.  We have been blest with a constitution that frees the people and limits the government.  They want to remove the limits on government and change the constitution to limit the citizens.  Help us, like Nehemiah, to remove them.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!