expository meditations on the book of nehemiah

THIS grand ascription of praise to God goes on in these next three verses with praise to God who cared and provided for his people in every way, both physically and spiritually. This is an aspect of God�s continued Fatherly care, and is the experience of believers every day of their lives. It may not seem so at times, but this is more because we do not stop to think how much God gives to us, and we do not stop to think of God�s caring, and do not give him thanks and praise. If we gave time for reflection on how much we owe to God, we would be amazed at all that we receive from him, and our joy and confidence in God would increase.

We need to notice again how these verses are held together by the word �you� referring to God, and how this shows that in this praise it is acknowledged that we owe everything to God, because he is author of every blessing. We need to notice also how in this emphasis on the word �you�, God is always there; always watching over us, and taking the initiative in his watching over us and giving for our need.

Let us see, in this provision of God, how much Israel had to praise God for, and in the same way, ourselves today.

GOD CAME DOWN.

Verse 13 commences with the statement that God came down on Mount Sinai, and God spoke from there to the people. The words say that God both spoke from the mount because he came down on the mount, and also he spoke from heaven at the same time. Here we have revealed the omnipresence of God. God is on earth and in heaven at the same time. However what the words express here is the presence of God near his people, and dwelling with his people.

We have fellowship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great fact for which we cannot praise God too much. What a privilege it is that we can come near to God and God comes near to us, and we can commune with God and dwell in his presence. Here is the essence of prayer. We speak in prayer to the God who is near and the God who hears, and the God who speaks to us. In this intimacy we know the love of God poured out on us.

Jesus says in John 14:17b "But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." God�s presence could not be nearer than this. This is the fruit of the great atonement of Jesus from whom, and from which, all these blessings come, including this reconciliation with God and God�s nearness to us, and us to him. Because Jesus atoned for our sin, he restored fellowship with the Father, which is experienced by the gift of God the Holy Spirit, who dwells with us and in us, and because through Christ we have been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.

It is the great privilege and unique experience of the believer in Jesus, that we know God, and have communion with God. He is near us every hour of the day. We can never be really alone, and our greatest joy is to realise his presence, which is more precious than any earthly companionship. We can�t help but give praise and thanks to God for this friendship he has bestowed upon us, and for the gift of new life which allows us to have fellowship with him.

GOD�S REGULATIONS.

Again in verse 16 we read that God gave the Israelites regulations and laws which were just, right and good. This refers not only to the 10 commandments, but also to all the regulations, both civil and ceremonial, which we find recorded in the books of Exodus to Deuteronomy. Now, we know from the New Testament that we can not be reconciled to God, and saved from our sin by our keeping of God�s law, nor by religious duties or good works. We know also from the New Testament that the law is our school master to bring us to Christ - that is to show us our sinfulness and so bring us to see that we need Christ and his work of atonement for us, in order to be forgiven, reconciled to God, accounted righteous before God, and be saved from our sin and its consequences. The thought concerning God giving his law and its remembrance here, so that we have something to praise God for in the giving of the commandments, includes this and more.

It is a source of praise that God shows us our sin and need through the commandments, and so causes us to repent and realise our need for Christ and his dying for us in order to be reconciled to God. For Israel it was a source of praise that God had given the ceremonial law of sacrifices for the atonement for sin, because it was by this temporary means that the Israelites found their sin removed and experienced cleansing. For us, it points us to Christ, as indeed it did for Israel also as the promised Saviour to come, and reminds us of the great blessing of salvation from sin that we have in Christ.

The law is a source of praise also because it is a means of grace in that it shows us how to please God. In the law we see the perfect holiness of God, and in the positive application of the law we learn of the love of God, because the law is summed up by love for God first, and then for others. The law is also a source of praise because true happiness is found when we live as near as possible to the precepts of God�s law, because they are the rules God built into our creation, so that we may know true happiness and satisfaction. How much there is to praise God for that he has given these rules and regulations so that we may have a fulfilled and good life.

THE SABBATH.

The way I was brought up, with the best of intentions, taught me to feel that Sunday was a complete bore, and the worst day of the week, where as a child I was compelled to give up all the interesting things, and do things in which I found little interest. This is a mistake. The Sabbath is a great blessing given us by God (v.14), a gift from God. Notice it is called a gift here, something given by God, not commanded by God. The Jews knew the Sabbath as Saturday, the last day of the week. We celebrate Sunday because it is the day of Christ�s resurrection, and the beginning of the New Testament Church. The Sabbath was given that we may have a time to care for our spiritual well-being. Six days are given to the necessary needs of living in this world, so God gave us one day a week to care for the needs of the life to come, and the spiritual realm. We are not complete unless we are nourished spiritually as well as bodily. It is because this is forgotten that there is so much break down in human life today.

God gave us Sunday also so that we may have time to spend with him, and know his love and grace. For the believer who has experienced the love of God in the heart, it is a joy to have a day when we are able to meet with God, and learn from him, and hear him speaking to us. I personally am unable to understand Christians who do not want to meet with God in worship, and I do not find twice a Sunday too much. In this respect I am grateful for the discipline of my youth, even thought then I resented it, and received a wrong image from the discipline. I am grateful now, because there are times when because of the sinfulness of my fallen nature, I am spiritually at a low ebb. Then the discipline makes me go to church, and I am blest by God, in spite of myself.

Sunday is a blessing also because in it God has provided a day of rest for the body. Here again let us praise God for his goodness and this precious gift of the Sabbath.

GOD GAVE ... (v.15).

Here is a wonderful source of praise. Israel remembered that God provided the food and other things they needed in their journey through the Sinai desert. It is a great blessing that God has made this world so rich in food and other things for our happiness and comfort. We think of this blessing specially at Harvest Thanksgiving each year, but it is something we should never forget, and always recognise. This is why Christians have felt the need for a prayer of thanksgiving before each meal, which we call �saying grace�.

The truth is that we receive all our earthly blessings from God. He is the provider. He is the one who gives us strength to make a living, and the brain to be able to do skills in order to earn our living. Part of our thankfulness and praise should surely be in our concern for the millions in the world who have so much less than we do in the western world, and give thought in prayer and gifts, so this inequality, which is man made and man conditioned, may be put right.

There is a further thought in this giving of God in his grace and goodness for our provision, and that is that God gives provision for our souls. This may be fanciful, but it is a fancy that the Apostle Paul also had, that in the provision of water from the rock when the Israelites needed water in the wilderness of Sinai, that we have a picture of the spiritual water in Christ. Paul spoke of the rock which follows us, even Christ, by which our spiritual thirst is quenched and satisfied. Jesus also spoke of himself as the water of life. and that if we believe on him there would be a spring of water springing up inside us which would give us life and cause us to never thirst again.

This provision for our thirsty souls in Christ is a blessing for which we can never praise God enough, and a blessing which we can never understand the greatness of.

YOU GAVE A LAND.

This last provision of God given here for our praise rounds off all this aspect of praise. The people of Israel were given the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. They travelled through the wilderness of Sinai by the direction of God in order to attain this promise, and God did not disappoint them, because he gave them the land of Palestine. Here they were in Nehemiah�s day remembering that gift, seeing how they had despised it, and now were appreciating it again, and seeking to bring it back to the state in which God had first given it to them. Here they were blessing and praising God for again coming to them and giving them their land back again.

Behind this earthly promise there was always a deeper promise, and a better one. We are told in Hebrews 11 that Abraham knew this, because although he travelled to the earthly land of promise, yet in his heart he knew he was looking for a better country, even a heavenly one, and this was the promise he laid hold of by faith.

This is the blessing of every believer which makes us praise God from our hearts. Spiritually now we are conscious that we are in the Kingdom of God, and are citizens of heaven. We are pilgrims here on earth, and we really belong in the heavenly realm. We have contact with this heavenly realm spiritually through faith and new life, so we are raised to sit in heavenly places with Christ, and know this in spiritual activity of prayer and worship. This blessing we know is the great goal of our salvation in Christ, which comes to us through the work of Christ for us alone.

Praise be to God, this spiritual realm, this glory, this heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father, we know is our realm, and that after this life is over, we will find a place in it waiting for us, prepared by Christ for us, where Christ will bring us when he calls us from this earthly life to his heavenly glory. We have a marvellous future in Christ our Saviour, for which we can never praise him enough.

CONCLUSION

How great is the provision of God. God gives and gives and gives. He gives for this earthly life and he gives us life eternal. In Christ we are complete and satisfied. Praise Him! Praise Him! for he has redeemed us and saved us, and given us glory. Let us praise him continually.