Nehemiah 12:
The wall was finished, the task was complete and now came the all important celebration! It is significant to note that celebration is seen as more than just an opportunity to relax and enjoy the fact that the task was over but it is also a proclamation to the people and to the surrounding nations that the Lord has moved and worked with them to achieve this miraculous task! Two choirs were appointed to walk around the top of the city walls, one from each direction. The timing was planned so that they would meet up together and sing in unison as they entered the Temple! They ringed the city with praise and ushered in a new day of blessing and prosperity. We should be quick to celebrate all that the Lord has done. We should be purposeful in our celebrations and we should always remember all He has done for us and be ready to shout it from the roof tops so that everyone else will know just how wonderful it is to be under His covering and supply! What can you celebrate today?
Job 13:
Job now holds nothing back. He accuses his friends of being ‘forgers of lies…worthless physicians’ and requests quite pointedly that they would ‘be silent and it would be your wisdom!’ He really has had enough of their pointed accusations and has taken no help from what they have offered him. Job is in a difficult place but he still finds expressions of faith in the midst of the darkness. He says… ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.’ Job believes that the Lord is with him but he still holds onto the fact that he is walking in his integrity before Him. His prayer is despondent but still displays his true faith and demonstrates the important aspects of Job’s heart. He makes two requests: that the Lord does not withdraw His hand far from him and; that Job is never overwhelmed with dread so that he pulls away from the Lord himself. Even under such testing and pressure…this is still a man of God!