We didn't buy it!

 Nehemiah 5

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• Summary

This chapter records the outcry made by Jews who were suffering from poverty towards fellow Jews.  My study Bible summarises their distress as follows:

(1) the landless were without food,
(2) the landowners were forced to mortgage their land because of a famine,

(3) borrowing was necessary to pay a property tax imposed by the Persians.

As a result many of them were in the helpless situation of sending their children into slavery with no power to redeem them.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash   

Nehemiah was very angry when he understood the situation and condemned the nobles and rulers for charging interest for loans, and causing their Jewish brethren to be sold as slaves to the heathen.  He urges them to return property which had been taken to pay debts and a percentage of the money, grain, wine and oil that had been charged as interest.

The rulers and people all agree to Nehemiah's advice and Nehemiah, for all the 12 years that he was governor did not take his rightful salary but fed the regular 150 plus people 'at his table' from his own pocket.

• Thoughts

On re-reading this chapter today (April 2021) and praying that the Lord would speak to me through it I thought it might be nice to write about verse 9, 'It is not good that ye do:ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?' and thoughts began coming in of how we are a witness to those around us.

But as I reached verse 16, I was stopped in my tracks when I read, 'neither bought we any land'. 

Photo by trevor pye on Unsplash   

A few days ago we noticed  a 1/4 acre of ground for sale approximately 10-15 minutes from where we currently rent our home.  The land is situated in lovely countryside in a small hamlet and immediately captured our attention.  I started to dream of a Timberspecs wood cabin, of chicken, cats, a dog and maybe a goat.  It took shape with a curved drive lined with trees which would blossom in the spring and an additional annexe was added to provide care for loved ones.

But bids for the land have to be submitted in less than a week, and after my initial quick online searches I had already realised that we should ensure we have planning permission before making the purchase, and a multitude of thoughts were starting to swarm in, of how to do this and that!  

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

We have prayed for guidance both together and individually, and perhaps more urgently this morning before I re-read this chapter, and then....'neither bought we any land'.  Straight way thoughts come in, 'Oh, but you didn't feel any power when you read this - you just noticed it - it is just a coincidence, you're just applying it to yourself!'  My thoughts immediately went back to a sermon I heard many years ago when the minister said, 'There are no coincidences'.  Dear reader, we are told in the gospels that the Lord knows when a single hair falls from our head - could he not have ordered it for me to read that very verse this morning?!  Has he not said that his word is a living word which speaks to us?!  Do I believe it?  Do you believe it?

Photo by Maksim Shutov on Unsplash

He tells us, 'In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he SHALL direct thy paths', and the preceding verse reads, 'Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding' (Proverbs 3: 5,6).  He has promised to guide our ways.  He has told us to trust him with ALL our heart - in other words, 'completely', for all seeming 'coincidences' and in all matters.  If I had asked my earthly father for advice and on receiving it turned round and said, 'Well I don't think you really said that', how foolish I would be!  How much time I might then waste, and perhaps finances - both of which have been given us by the Lord to be good stewards of - and how much anxiety I might create for myself with trying to bring about something which is not the Lord's will for us at this time and perhaps for always.

Do you have matters in your life which you are praying about and struggling to hear the Lord's voice?  Continue to pray, dear reader and look for answers in his word, in the circumstances which arise and in the messages brought to you from God by his ministers and other Christians.  And when we have those answers, let us praise and thank him for caring about us, and showing us his way for us.

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