SEEK & SHARE
OLD TESTAMENT: Nehemiah 9
POETRY: Psalm 148
NEW TESTAMENT: John 20:1-9
“Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction… it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation…”
~ President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan spoke these famous wise words during his inaugural address. It was a call for the country to not take our freedom for granted, to continue fighting to keep our freedom alive.
That reminds me of the instructions following the Shema, a major tenet of Jewish faith and our faith, found in Deuteronomy 6. The Shema states: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Those words are super important, but is that the end? Is that all we need to know and do? A big, resounding NO! Immediately following these core words, we are instructed to pass along our faith deeply to the next generation and embed it into our daily rhythms: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
If I am interpreting this scripture correctly, it seems like we are supposed to be thinking and teaching about God, like, all the time, right? We need to be in a state of constant communion with God not only in our own hearts, but also sharing that with our children and others around us.
Nehemiah 9 describes Israel’s repentance, return to faith, and reinstallment of their covenant in a religious and legal document. Throughout the chronicle of their rebellion, they remember God’s covenantal love: “You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (v 17). They realize, though, that it is because of their sin that they are presently enslaved under Persia.
We can’t let the next generation forget! This happened too many times in Israel’s history, and it continues to happen with us. Oh, sure, we don’t intend to not grow our relationship with God and teach our kids to do the same, but there’s just so much vying for our attention: school and work and sports and sleep and Netflix. It’s a slow fade, a side effect of busy-ness and forgetfulness and complacency, but ultimately it’s an abdication of our responsibilities as followers of Jesus. However, it is vitally important, in our farm-out-all-our-chores-to-someone-else culture, that we don’t assume someone else will teach our children about Jesus, someone else will share the love of God with our restaurant server, someone else will volunteer to meet the needs of our local church and community, someone else will…
We are called to be seeking and sharing about God from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed, whether we are at home or in another place. We are especially commanded to teach “them” to our children. (“Them” refers to commandments, but I think it means even more than that; I think it includes knowing and loving God enough to WANT to follow his commands, and passing that depth of understanding and passion onto the next generation.)
In Nehemiah 9, with the Feast of Tabernacles fresh on their minds, the people were still remembering their history of being slaves in Egypt, then finding freedom, and then following a cycle of rebellion and enslavement… rinse, lather, repeat. After their work with Nehemiah, they were hungry to return to God and understand the scriptures. Again, this is why the Shema and the instructions following the Shema are important – we can’t let the next generation forget who God is and what He has done in our lives!
If we really peer outside our Christian bubbles, we will see a hurting and perverse world that is far from God. But it doesn’t have to stay that way! You can greatly influence your existing circle. Evangelist Gypsy Smith shared the secret to revival: “Go home. Take a piece of chalk. Draw a circle around yourself. Then pray, ‘O Lord, revive everything inside this circle.’” Start with yourself; renew your own relationship with God. Teach your family, and learn to follow Him better together. Then you won’t be able to keep it all inside!
Connections to the other readings:
In John, the disciples discover the empty tomb, but they seem confused about the whole event. Though Jesus had told them he would rise again, they didn’t fully understand until it really happened. Like the nation in Nehemiah longed to be free from Persian rule, Jesus’ peers wanted to be free from Roman rule. When Jesus didn’t save them in the way they wanted, they turned on him because they did not understand that Jesus was saving them in an even better, eternal way!
Psalm 148 is a song of praise! The people in Nehemiah praised God for his faithfulness throughout this chapter.
-Rachel Cain
Reflections:
*Listen to this encouraging song. Be intentional to start a revival in your home and community today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlQQcQc0eHU
*Read the Psalm as a prayer of praise and gratitude to God.
Seek Grow Love 