{"id":5011,"date":"2023-09-13T15:39:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T20:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=5011"},"modified":"2023-09-13T15:39:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T20:39:45","slug":"devotional-on-nehemiah-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-nehemiah-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Nehemiah"},"content":{"rendered":"

2018 – Maumelle CoE Campground – Little Rock, AR<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nSpiritually deciding things in practical ways
\nNehemiah 11: The people drew lots to get one out of ten to move to Jerusalem.
\nWhen the Jews return to the vicinity of Jerusalem to rebuild the city and reestablish worship there they find a city in ruins. They also find small settlements of the descendants of the remnant of Jews who had been left behind a generation earlier. Many, apparently, opt to live in those settlements rather than in the rubble of Jerusalem. That makes good sense; after all, this is an agrarian society in need of open land for their livestock and for growing food. Now, though, the wall project is complete and worship has been reestablished in their holy city. I\u2019m impressed that the leaders have already led the way back by making their homes in Jerusalem. Now, the decision is made to draw lots to decide who else will join them. It\u2019s an interesting mixture of spiritual and practical decision making. As God\u2019s people they want to have a real presence in this City of David. However, they\u2019re practical about it too. Not everyone can immediately relocate to this broken city. Instead, one tenth of them will, and to be fair, it\u2019s decided by drawing lots. To me, this all embodies the balance the Lord wants us to have in our lives. Some would have us live mystical lives in which God opens parking spaces at the mall for us and in which we just flip our Bibles open to a random passage to find \u201cGod\u2019s will\u201d for us in big decisions. Others want us to keep our feet planted firmly on planet earth. \u201cIf it\u2019s to be it\u2019s up to me\u201d is their motto. They plan their lives and operate the Church as though they\u2019re putting on a performance for God, who sits off at a distance being impressed by it all. In the middle is the balanced life. Living with an eye toward God, seeking his direction and relying on his strength while at the same time using the brains he gave us, applying our experiences, intelligence, and gifts to all we do. As I watch these Jews lining up to draw lots, I\u2019m impressed by their desire to walk with God even if it means the inconvenience of moving to the destroyed city. I\u2019m also impressed by their practical way of working through who will do what.
\nTake Away: The people of the Lord are to live between the extremes; both trusting God and, at the same time, using all the capability he has given us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spiritually deciding things in practical ways Nehemiah 11: The people drew lots to get one out of ten to move to Jerusalem. When the Jews return to the vicinity of Jerusalem to rebuild the city and reestablish worship there they find a city in ruins. They also find small settlements of the descendants of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1521,7],"tags":[144,245],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5011"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14672,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions\/14672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}