Kristi Burchfiel

Giving. Many people have heard pastors talk about money. In fact, it is often criticized as being spoken about too often. Yet here in Nejemiah 13:10-14, we see the practical side of tithing. True, it is important to tithe as it is a way to demonstrate o edience and trust in God. But, the other purpose of the tithe is to allow the servants God has chosen to be provided for so that they can focus on serving. Here, the tithe was not happening, so the servants left their service so they could go and make a living. Nehemiah trstored them to service and saw them provided for. Are we…

What have we given a room to? In Nehemiah 13:3-9, he had gone back to his job with the king, but while he was gone, some of the men had taken one of the evil men and giving him a room in the temple. Nehemiah came back to visit and check on things, and found this out. He immediately demanded that they remove that person and cleanse the room. What things are we providing room for in our heart? We can be quick to give space for things that are not pleasing to God, but that we don’t want to get rid of. We must examine our hearts and ensure…

Obedience. The people of Nehemiah’s time had learned so much about obedience already, but we see in chapter 13, verses 1-3 another example. Here, they didn’t know what they were supposed to do. They had been allowing something that was not right to go on. But, the moment they were confronted with it, they immediately turned and repented and made it right. Do we do the same? When we are confronted with something being wrong, do we accept that and move directly to obedience? Or, do we make excuses and justifications instead? Nothing less than obedience is what God desires.

Worship and giving go together. In Nehemiah chapter 11, starting in verse 27 through the end of the chapter, we see the people preparing for the worship service to dedicate the work that they had done to restore the walls of Jerusalem. We see all the people that are involved and the big steps and production that they went to to be able to proclaim their worship of God and thanks for all he allowed them to accomplish. What’s so interesting to me, is that immediately after the worship, it talks about giving. It explains what the people were giving back to God as a response to the worship. Time…

Another list of names. In Nehemiah 12:1-26 we see a listing of all the priests and those who were serving the Lord. Interestingly, there is specification that they were in charge of thanks and praise to God. If we were in charge of thanks and praise, what would we say? Would we see all the things around us that are worthy of praise? God has commanded us to praise Him. We can consider ourselves in charge of praise for our own lives. Are we fulfilling that command?

Outside Jerusalem. Yesterday, we saw how important it was to get people to live inside Jerusalem. Today, in Nehemiah 11:20-36, we see that God is also concerned where everyone else lives. God does not just concern Himself with the tithe, like we learned yesterday, God is concerned with all. We cannot just tell God, “Ok, I gave You Your tithe, now I’m going to do whatever I want with the rest.” God desires to see us be obedient to Him with all that we have. Will we trust Him today with everything?

Where are the people? In Nehemiah 11:1-19, now that Nehemiah has rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, the question becomes who is going to live there? You see nobody wants to live in an unprotected and undefended city, so nobody was living there. But now, this city has a wall. The city is defended. The city is the capital city and the holy city of God, and it needs people living in it. So how did they find the people to live there? Essentially, they took a tithe of people. A lot of times when we hear the word tithe we automatically think money. 10% of our money should go to…

Where’s your accountability? Looking at Nehemiah chapter 10, we see through the entire chapter today a long list of names of individuals and then a list of expectations for those individuals. A lot of times we wonder why are names listed in the Bible, especially those really long lists of names. Here I see those names as an opportunity for accountability. Nehemiah knew that these people would have expectations put upon them. If they were truly going to lead the people of Israel, they needed to be the very best at what they did and be obedient to God. One of the easiest ways to ensure that is by listing…

Sometimes we get what we deserve. As we read Nehemiah chapter 9, we finish up this chapter starting in verse 27 through the end. We see that the people of God had continued to be disobedient him. As a result, God allowed them to experience the results of their sin. He allowed them to be captured and He allowed them to go through all the difficulties that arose as a result of that. When we make a choice to disobey God, God wants to get our attention so that He can bring us back to the place where we should be. But, occasionally we are stubborn and don’t listen. So…

Yesterday, we saw the people praising God. Today, in Nehemiah 9:16-26, we see that as we see God for who he is, we end up seeing ourselves for who we are. We are sinful. We are disobedient. We fall short of the perfect God every single day. As Nehemiah retells the history of the people of Israel, it stands in sharp contrast to the faithfulness of God. The same is true for us. When we truly see who God is and what He wants to do in our life, we must admit we fall drastically short of His expectations for us. Are we willing to admit our shortcomings? Do we…