Bible Devotion - 5/31/2021 | Elmwood Baptist Church

Living the Christian Life Day by Day (Vol 4)

Over the last few devotions, we have been considering the daily duties of the Christian life by looking at the Biblical occurrences of the phrase "day by day". While contemplating the application of these duties, we have seen:

Through Joseph (Genesis 39:10), we saw how we must learn to overcome temptation "day by day."
In the daily offering of the two lambs (Exodus 29:38), we saw how we must also deal with sin in our life "day by day."
Last week (2 Chronicles 30:21), we saw that praising the Lord is to be done "day by day" in our life.

Now, draw your attention to Nehemiah 8:18 and how reading the Bible is to be a "day by day" exercise of the Christian life.

This week I want us to look at this thrilling scene from Nehemiah 8 and learn of the place the Bible is to have in our life "day by day." In the text before us, we see three things that are related to our Christian lives.

The first thing I want to point out is….

1. WE NEED A GENIUNE LOVE FOR OUR BIBLE

The background to Nehemiah chapter 8 finds the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt and the people having returned to their land and the city of Jerusalem. Eighty years had been spent in Babylonian captivity. For 80 years they had been without God's Word.

There had been no priest to lead them in holy practices. There been no scribe to proclaim and educate them in the laws of their God. Now they are back in their beloved land and in chapter 8 we find them gathering in the holy city of Jerusalem. As they do so, they requested that the Word of God be read to them:

Nehemiah 8:1 "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel"

The people wanted to hear the Word of God. They wanted the Word of God to be read to them. When the apostle Paul was in prison he requested three items. We read in 2 Timothy 4:13, "The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments."

He requested his cloke to meet his physical needs and his books to meet his mental and intellectual needs. But, that which he "especially" wanted was the "parchments." The word literally means "sheepskin" and speaks of the material that made up certain scrolls that were used at the time.

The scrolls that Paul "especially" wanted were no doubt the Old Testament writings and possibly the words of Jesus. You could say that he was asking for his Bible which would meet his spiritual needs. Paul was saying with the children of Israel, "Bring me the book."

As Christians we ought to say, "Bring the Book!" There should be a hunger in our hearts and souls for the Bible. We read in Nehemiah 8:2-3, "And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. [3] And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law."

Ezra read to them from the Word of God from "the morning until midday." The word "morning" means "the breaking of the light," thus referring to dawn, and the word "midday" speaks of the "brightest part of the day" and refers to noon. For approximately 6 hours the people listened with happy attention to the reading of "the book."

In Nehemiah 8:5, the bible says that the people stood in reverence and respect because they were hearing the Word of God! The Bible is a book for which we should have great respect and reverence. To put it another way, it is a book that ought to have a very important place in our life. Our respect and reverence for the Bible shows our love for the Bible.

The second thing I want to point out is…

2. WE SHOULD DESIRE TO LEARN FROM THE BIBLE

As Christians, we should desire to learn more about the Bible, what is says and teaches. The prayer of the Psalmist in Psalms 119:18 was, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law".

We read in verse 7, "Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place."

Don't ask me who all those fellows were, but it would seem that they were teachers that helped the people to understand what God said in His word, much like what Pastor Rick & our Sunday School teachers do each week for us.

The word, "understand" means, "to separate mentally" and speaks of how the meaning of what was read was explained so they could discern and understand the Word of God. We read in verse 8, "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."

They read the word of God "distinctly." The word describes how they translated and interpreted the Word of God. They "gave the sense." They properly divided the sentences such as in our Bible it is broken down in chapters and verses to help in our understanding. All this was for the purpose in causing "them to understand" what was read to them. In short, they were taught the meaning of the Word of God.

Their actions remind me of what preaching is all about. Preaching is a proclamation of God's Word and an explanation of what God said. Preaching is to be an act of teaching God's people what God is saying in His Word.

We read in verse 9, "And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law."

The people wept when they heard the Word of God. The word they heard and were brought to an understanding of deeply moved them. The more we learn of the Word of God the more deeply we will be touched by what we learn. God's promises will be personal and precious. When we understand what God is saying and that He is saying it to us personally, it will thrill our hearts.

As we love and learn from the bible we then…..

3. SHOULD LIVE OUR LIFE BY THE BIBLE

The Bible is more than a book to learn and make scholars out of ourselves. The purpose of learning what God says is to enable us to know what God wants for our life and expects in our life. We see that the people were given understanding of God's Word and with that understanding there came two things, A revelation and a responsibility.

We read in verses 13-15, "And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. [14] And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: [15] And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written."

As they read and were brought to an understanding of what God said they realized that God had commanded that in the seventh month there was a certain feast to be observed and certain actions they were to take in relation to the observance of that feast.

As we learn what God says in the Bible it brings revelation. It brings revelation of what God wants us to do and not do, how he wants us to live and not live, as well as other spiritual duties that are to be observed as Christians.

We read in verse 16 that as soon as they learned what they were to do, "So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. [17] And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness."

When they understood what they were to do, they did it. I repeat, our understanding of the Bible is to do more than make us scholars. Our goal in learning the Bible is more than being able to impress others with our knowledge of the Scriptures. The goal is to learn what God said and then act upon it and apply its truth to our life.

The Bible is gives guidance and direction for our lives as Christians. We read in verse 18, "Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner."

Because the Christian life is to be directed by the Bible, it becomes important and essential that we read and spend time in the Bible "day by day."

If your Bible could and was keeping a diary about your interaction with it, what would it say about you? Let us all make a firm commitment this week to read our bibles "day by day."

Brother Jeff

Over the last few devotions, we have been considering the daily duties of the Christian life by looking at the Biblical occurrences of the phrase "day by day". While contemplating the application of these duties, we have seen:

Through Joseph (Genesis 39:10), we saw how we must learn to overcome temptation "day by day."
In the daily offering of the two lambs (Exodus 29:38), we saw how we must also deal with sin in our life "day by day."
Last week (2 Chronicles 30:21), we saw that praising the Lord is to be done "day by day" in our life.