In Nehemiah chapter thirteen, the temple of God is
ill-used by wicked and negligent Israelites, and falls into disarray during the
absence of Nehemiah. Among other things, the priest prepares a room in the
temple for the wicked Tobiah, and the Levites are denied their portions. When
Nehemiah returned, he wasted no time in setting things right: driving Tobiah
out, cleansing the rooms, and returning to the Levites their portions and
duties.
What is the lesson that
can be gleaned from this?
Jesus Christ refers to
Christians themselves as “the temple of God,” so this chapter can be directly
applied to us. The Holy Spirit is our “Nehemiah”—getting us back on track and
putting us back together when we fall back into our old nature. When we succumb
to sin—which we all too often do—we are just like the Israelites, giving away
the rooms of God’s temple to wickedness and neglecting the righteous duties
assigned to us. But the Holy Spirit always rushes back at us with the
guilt-inflicting question: “Why is the house of God forsaken?” and we are set
in our place again (see Neh. 13:11).
It is best of all to cling
tightly to the Holy Spirit and thus avoid falling into sin in the first place,
but as long as we are on this earth we will make mistakes. The sign of
spiritual maturity is ushering the Holy Spirit in sooner and clinging to it a
little more tightly each time. Is not the patience of God a wondrous thing?
“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom
for such a time as this?”—Esther 4:14, NKJV
God always puts us in the
position in which we may best serve Him. That may mean leadership, like Queen
Esther, or it may mean a humble, inglorious occupation. All we must do is make
the best of whatever we are given—“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with
your might” (Eccl. 9:10, NKJV).
Do not think it strange
when your position in life changes, or seems unfair; God orders the steps of
those who serve Him, and never gives you anything unless you can use it for His
glory.
The Book of Esther is unique in that it never actually
mentions God, but is fraught with miracles and “coincidences” that speak loudly
and powerfully of His handiwork.
The author (the human one,
at least!) of this book, whether intentionally or unintentionally, gives glory
to God without ever mentioning His name, but simply by presenting the
miraculous redemption of the Jews which could only have been possible through
the intervention of an almighty God.
“After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day
of his birth.”—Job 3:22, NKJV
Observe how, rather than
cursing God when calamity strikes him, Job curses himself.
What a lesson we can all
learn from Job! For whatever reason, the natural instinct in mankind is to
blame God for our misfortunes, or if not Him, then the people around us.
Rarely, if ever, do we consider our own shortcomings and follies, and how we
might have prevented a misfortune, or what God may be trying to teach us
through it.
Again, when calamity
strikes, we are often driven to curse or blame someone or something. This is
the experience that Job had, but he resisted blasphemy and instead cursed the
day of his birth. He did not understand why God had let him live to see such
days, but trusted Him as the omniscient constant amid so many variables.
Job chapter seven is a powerful portrayal of the
state of man without Christ.
“My days are swifter than
a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a
breath! My eye will never again see good.”—Job 7:6-7 (NKJV)
These verses summarize the
unhappy plight of mankind since the Fall, and this entire chapter, as well as
many other passages, elaborates on the depressing futility, hopelessness, and
grief of a life without God.
“Like a servant who
earnestly desires the shade, and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his
wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have
been appointed to me.”—Job 7:2-3 (NKJV)
But how does all this
apply to Job—a man who followed God wholeheartedly; a man whom God Himself
called “righteous”? Why is it that Job should find himself in such a state of
hopelessness and misery?
We know from Job chapter
one that God allowed Satan to afflict Job in order to test his faith. This may
mean that, during this time, God had actually departed from Job, leaving him
truly destitute, as his lengthy expressions of misery strongly indicate. But if
this is true, then we are compelled to ask the inevitable question: why? Why
would God forsake a servant as dedicated as Job? It could certainly not be
punishment, as this whole thing was started by God telling Satan how righteous
Job was. So what then?
The answer is simple.
At some point in the life
of every Christian, God must show us how hopeless we are without Him—how we
cannot survive without Him. Though we may acknowledge this truth, we never
truly understand it until God withdraws His hand.
This is what happened to
Job. Yes, he was a dedicated servant; yes, he was a righteous man—but all this
was given to him by God, just like all his wealth, and God needed to take him to
the next level. Job needed to really understand how much he relied on God, but
he could only truly understand when God withdrew from him.
Now, mind you, God did not
forsake Job. God promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and we know that
God cannot lie.
Rather, by “withdrawing,”
I mean that God removes everything you hold dear, until it is just you and Him,
and then you realize that, though all through the long, hard process it felt
like He really did leave you, He was always there, and that He is all you need.
In Job chapter nine, it is obvious that Job is
longing for the Messiah. He compares his previously pious and prosperous life
with the idea, implanted by his friends, that God is punishing him for some
wrong-doing, and concludes that it is impossible for man to be righteous or to
in any way please God. He compares the majesty and power of God with the
insignificance and weakness of man, and concludes that it is impossible for the
two to have any communion, but that, rather, mankind is simply an abominable
parasite in the sight of God.
In the following verses,
you can see Job’s miserable acceptance of his own degradation and humiliation,
as well as his hopeless desire for purity and beauty:
“If it is a matter of
strength, indeed He is strong; and if of justice, who will appoint my day in
court? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; though I were
blameless, it would prove me perverse.”—Job 9:19-20, NKJV
“If I am condemned, why
then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands
with soap, yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor
me. For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go
to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand
on us both. Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him
terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me.”—Job
9:29-35, NKJV
Job speaks for all
mankind. He finds himself condemned, perverse, without hope of righteousness; a
man who “labored in vain” to attain righteousness and washed himself with “snow
water and soap” only to be plunged into the pit of perversity by the pure
holiness of God.
This is the outcry of
mankind since the Fall: to be free from the humiliation of sin, to speak with
God and walk with Him without fear or shame—to be as Adam and Eve in Paradise!
And here is the key verse:
“Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both.”
Job desires a mediator;
someone who will close the great chasm that separates the Most High from the
lowest of the low.
Who is the mediator
between God and man? Who is the desire of all mankind? Who is the only hope of
righteousness and salvation for the sons of men? And what cleanses all sin? Who
but Christ Jesus, and His shed blood!
The Book of Job chronicles
the outcry of a fallen world, and the miserable existence of man separated from
God, with no one to stand in the gap.
Though often considered a depressing book, Job
is a constant reminder of how infinitely important the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ really is.
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