ESOCS Devotional 1 September 2024 – Respect God’s Sacred Things
MEMORY VERSE: “Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” Nehemiah 13:17-18 NKJV
TEXT: NEHEMIAH 13;15-22
In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions. 16 The people from Tyre who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem, of all places! 17 So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Isn’t this the way your ancestors acted, causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune? And now you are causing even more wrath on Israel, profaning the Sabbath like this!”
19 When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day. 20 The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath.[i] 22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.
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In ancient Israel, the Sabbath was considered highly sacred. Breaching the Law of the Sabbath was a serious offence. There was no compromise about it. The Jews held onto it like a creed. But disrespecting or profaning the Sabbath was one of the ways by which the Israelites flagrantly dishonoured God. It added up to one of the reasons they were usually punished and dispersed from Israel to other nations where they were held captive as slaves several times.
Nehemiah visited Judah and discovered that the people still profaned the Sabbath and were merchandising on the sacred day. He was angry and rebuked the nobles. One thing with Israel was that it seemed that they always failed to learn from the punishments they received as consequences of offending the God of their founding fathers, Jehovah. Israel did not have ears to hear! They were different from their father Abraham! Abraham had the ears to hear and obey God. As for his descendants, they were different. They seemed to use their ears for other things; and definitely not for listening to and obeying the voice or commandment of the God that had espoused them to Himself by covenant.
Many Christians today are not different from the Israelites. The more they listen to the word of God, the more they harden their hearts against the sense of reason. As the Bible would put it, they continue still in their sins.
Many Christians undermine the seriousness of God’s words, they take it for granted. In most cases, God does not hear their prayers when they pray; and when people pray for them, God refuses to answer. They find it difficult to let go their wayward lifestyle. They make themselves friends of the world and enemies of God (James 4:4). This makes it impossible for them to commune with the Holy Spirit because their inclinations are usually contrary to the ways of the Spirit.
Anyone who desires to live a true Christian life must decide to walk away from the world and embrace Christ, His word and the Holy Spirit. Holiness and righteousness are sacred to God. Those who are conscious of winning the Christian race should be willing to respect things that are sacred to God. Living a life of sin is disrespecting the sacredness of the Temple of God, which Temples we are. There is no compromise in the matter unless we desire to be treated as the Israelites were treated all the years they lived in disobedience.
- What strategies have you put in place to enable you play down the influence of the world?
- Lord, forgive my incessant disobedience to your word and give an obedient heart.
Further Reading: Judge 14:15-end; Luke 9:23-50; Acts 27:1-8
ESOCS Devotional 1 September 2024
