Devotional - your sons, your daughters

I have been thinking about being more pro-active with my devotionals and thought that blogging about it would be a nice useful habit to cultivate.

This is my first one and it’s from an old verse I loved and emailed to myself a long time ago.

We’ll see how this habit continues.

Nehemiah 4:14 (New Living Translation)

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”

Our church was doing a study of Nehemiah as part of our whole church bible study events. Living in the city, we didn’t participate in the small groups but when we were at church, we kept up with the teaching from Nehemiah.

I love this verse because it is a rally cry. To me, it speaks to the courage in all of us. The enemy could be anything or anyone – whatever puts fear into our hearts. When Nehemiah surveyed the situation, when he looked upon the people, who were uncertain and fearful, he reminded them “Do not be afraid … Remember the Lord”.

How often is it that we let fear conquer us?

How often do we let our own uncertainty and insecurity hold us back?

Last night I was speaking to Steve as we lay in bed chatting (it was a sweet moment, lying in the dark - talking, but that’s a different topic) and I expressed some concerns I had to him.

He wisely told me that I was being too hard on myself (which I often am) and then went on to say that there were many reasons for the situation that we’re in now. Then in his own logical way, went on to list them all out.

I felt better after our talk, but it also made me think of our Lord.

“Do not be afraid … Remember the Lord …” and what I remembered what that our God is a gracious God. He is a loving and forgiving God. He sees into our hearts and our actions. He knows our intent.

Steve says it’s as much about intent as it is about action and the rest of the verse is about action too – “ … and fight …”

In order words, DO something! Do something for everything you hold dear to you - "your sons, your daughters, your wives, your homes".

Putting my faith in God and remembering his grace and mercy is an action that I can put into practice right away.

Being honest with God in my prayers and confessions to him shows him my heart in a very concrete way. He sees my intent. He knows anyway, but for the action oriented (and it feels better to be doing something) then in prayers and confessions, I can come before my Lord and reveal my heart to him in a way that is solid. I can see it. I can touch it. I can feel it.

Seeking out the things that I need to do and doing them.

So …

1. Do not be afraid

2. Remember the Lord

3. Do something about what matters to  you