The Joy of the Lord is your strength

"And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” - Nehemiah 8:10

At this time of the year, we long for joy and happiness, and we are willing to seek it in all sorts of places. In my experience, Joy is not something we can buy, earn or even claim. However, we can 'receive' it - as a Gift of the Spirit. 

This JOY sustains us through all kinds of turbulence, crisis and stress. As much we hope that Christmas will be a time without pain and suffering, we realise that we live a world where these exist in abundance. However, it is my prayer that we come to experience the gift of JOY this year, through God's gracious Spirit.

o  Luke 2:10 – “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Unfailing Love

We have all come to experience the limitations of human love and commitment. Even the best of relationships contain moments of hurt, mis-understanding and fragility. So when the Bible speaks of God's love that is UNFAILING, this should immediately get our attention. 

This is an image of God, who despite our reactions, will continue to love us and 'be for us.' 

When you think of God's unfailing love, is there something that resonates with you? 

Exodus 15:13 - “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home."

Nehemiah 1:5 - Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,

·       John 1:17 - For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 

In the words of Chris Tomlin -

"And You never change God,
You remain The Holy One.
My unfailing love
Unfailing love."

      Living in Grace

      D3LM3

This is what is missing on most CV's

A Curriculum Vitae (CV) can give us a good idea of someone's skills, experience and general life context. However, there is something that is often overlooked, but should be an important criteria in appointing any person to a job... that is integrity! 

For me, this would the defining difference between 2 equal candidates (on paper). What is the underlying character of this person? When Nehemiah was appointing people to help rebuild Jerusalem he was very clear on who he was looking for:

"I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do." - Nehemiah 7:2

For the moment, we will overlook the obvious nepotism in Nehemiah's appointment of his brother, but his choice of commander of the citadel was based on 'INTEGRITY' and 'GODLINESS'. 

What do you feel about this? Is this important for you or not?

Living in Grace

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In front of your house

We have been looking at the book of Nehemiah in our weekly Bible studies and it is such a remarkable account of God working in the lives of ordinary citizens. If you want to listen to some of these studies you will find them on Spotify (just search for my name or Living in Grace) - they are all for free :) 

One of the things that struck me about chapter 3 is the list of people working on the wall and the area of their work - it was noticeable that they focussed on the parts of the wall that were in front of their own homes. 

"The priests repaired the wall up the hill from the Horse Gate, each one doing the section immediately opposite his own house." - Nehemiah 3:28

Sometimes we can get caught up in trying to solve everyone else's problems that we neglect the issues that may be staring us in the face. In ministry this is one of the things that pastors have trouble balancing - there are so many needs in the community, that each pastor has to wrestle with caring for the church, but also taking care of their own family. 

How do you understand this verse? What does it say to you about your present circumstances?

Living in Grace

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Sadness of Heart

"so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”- Nehemiah 2:2

People can see into our hearts. Well, certainly people who know us well enough - they can see when something is troubling us. The King knew Nehemiah well enough to recognise that he was wrestling with a 'sadness of heart.' Nehemiah was not showing any other visible signs of illness, but his heart was breaking.

It was through this honest exchange with the King that Nehemiah was able to express what was on his heart and in the end he returned to Israel in order to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem.

Sometimes it is very important that we express what is weighing us down to another human being. And if you struggle to do that, then at least share this with Christ.

Living in Grace
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Prayer is not inaction

Many people make the assumption that prayer is something we resort to when we don't know what to do and in a way that "prayer makes us lazy." This couldn't be further from the truth and if you listen to the words of R.A. Torrey he would agree:

"By praying more, we will not work any less, and we will accomplish vastly more."

Praying should spur us into action and not towards inaction. In our times of prayer we are made aware of the massive task before us and that God wants to work through us to achieve his purposes.

Nehemiah 6:9 - “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

Living in Grace
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Nehemiah - with God's Help

Carrying on with the theme of yesterday - rebuilding when faced with opposition - it is interesting to note that Nehemiah faced similar trials as Ezra. There were many people who tried to distract them from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but in the end God helped them prevail. This verse sums up the hard work and focussed stewardship of Nehemiah and his team.

¹⁵ So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. ¹⁶ When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." - Nehemiah 6:15-16

The hard work of the people, coupled with the HELP of God, ended up in a great victory and the task was completed. We would be wise to remember that anything worthwhile will take time and a huge effort if we want to succeed in that task. If it is worth it, then it is worth the pain and hardship to accomplish the goal.

Keep at it! God will help you complete the task.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

The Lifeguard

Apologies if you were expecting a nice picture of a hunky Lifeguard, but I wanted to make sure that you all remained focused on this post :)

Over the holidays we went away for a quick break down to the beach, but for a few days swimming and surfing was banned. The hectic weather conditions and giant surf made swimming far too dangerous.

What was interesting to note was that the Lifeguards were warning people not to go into the surf, but there were people who still disobeyed the order and tried to go and swim.The swimmers would be reprimanded and then come out the water - but a few minutes later someone else ignored the ban and tried to swim. At one point the exasperated Life guards were telling people that bathing was banned for the SAFETY of the public! It was not that they wanted to chill out and take a day off – no, they were doing their job and trying to protect people.

This reminded me of how we sometimes view God and his commands. We often think that God has made the rules and commands just to mess with us – like some kind of sick LIFEGUARD, who just wants to stop my fun in the sun.

It is interesting that when the Lord gave the 10 commandments to the Israelites it was to PROTECT Them and keep them safe in the NEW LAND they were about to enter into. They had been used to living under the leadership and rules of the Egyptians for generations. These were set for them to say to them – “Hey, guys it is gonna be tough out there – if you want to survive and live long in the land, then I am laying down these guidelines.” But the people kept ignoring God.

Nehemiah 9: 16-18 - But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. ¹⁷ They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them."

God is not a mean person trying to mess up our lives, rather he is a loving LifeGuard trying to protect us from getting ourselves in trouble.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Pray and work

Ora et labora
These Latin words mean"pray and work!" and they were adopted by the Benedictines. Of course they refer to two of the major components of the monastic life - prayer and work. However, it is interesting that the monks put 'prayer' first and then 'work'. They were advocating that all of our actions must stem from an attitude of prayer. Work is a gift from God, but we need to strive to make our work flow from an attitude of prayer.

Could you imagine how different our places of work could be if people did this? Wow, work could be very different hey? So many people think that we need to separate the two fields, because one seems to be a spiritual exercise, while the other seems to be economic. As Christians, we should seek to be more prayerful at work. We should also 'work' more on our prayers!

Nehemiah 6:9 - "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

My friend Dion Forster co-authored a wonderful book on 'Transforming your work Life' - if you want to have a look at that book then click here to see more on this topic.

Living in Grace
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Robin Williams

We woke up this morning to the devastating news that Robin Williams had taken his own life. I can't believe it! The man who made me laugh in Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire, who made me rethink my life in Good Will Hunting and The Fisher King, and of course who shaped my teen years with echoes of "Captain, O my Captain" in Dead Poets Society. I still can't believe the news.

Perhaps it is not my place to offer any thoughts on Robin's life, but I would like to encourage anyone of us who is struggling with depression. Reports suggest that Robin battled with depression, which strikes me as ironic - he always made others laugh, yet he was masking a severe struggle in his own heart.

Friends, Depression is not something that we can just "snap"out of, or even simply psych ourselves up to "get over it!" If you are struggling with depression please seek some help - don't be embarrassed to admit that you are needing some extra help. As we have seen from Robin William's death, depression can impact anyone - money and fame can't buy all things. If you know someone battling through depression, pray for them and love them through this difficult time. Depression can be managed and even beaten, but it is dangerous to ignore it.

Nehemiah 2:2 - "so he asked me, “Why the long face? You’re not sick are you? Or are you depressed?”

Romans 12:7-8 (MSG) - "...if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face."

Living in Grace
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Remember me

In his final chapter, Nehemiah makes an interesting appeal to God. He asks God to remember all that he (Nehemiah) has done and to show him mercy. Nehemiah had done an amazing job of rallying the Israelites to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem. His leadership had been par excellence and yet he seemed a little insecure in his position with God. This is what he prayed:

"Remember me for this..." - 13:14

"Remember me for this also, O my God, & show mercy to me according to your great love." - 13:22

"Remember me with favour, O my God." - 13:31

I am convinced that Nehemiah has a special place in heaven and I know that God remembered everything that he did. In a similar way, I believe that God remembers each one of us and he knows us by name.

Don't let your despondency turn you away from Jesus. He remembers you!

Living in Grace
D3LM3