As we look at Nehemiah and his successful wall-building project (there are not many success stories in the Bible!), it’s instructive to see where he starts. He hears the report which sets the stage for the story:

The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. They told me, “The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders.” (Nehemiah 1.1 – 3, MSG)

Nehemiah’s first response is prayer, but not just any prayer, a prayer of confession, just like Ezra:

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven. I said, “GOD, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I’m praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I’m including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you. “We’ve treated you like dirt: We haven’t done what you told us, haven’t followed your commands, and haven’t respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. (Nehemiah 1.4 – 7, MSG)

It’s a “we” confession. Ezra (Ezra 9), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1), and Daniel (Daniel 9) all prayed “we” confessions. “WE have sinned,” not “THEY have sinned.”

If…my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. (2 Chronicles 7.14, MSG)

And again, don’t miss this, of the three – Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel – only Ezra was a religious professional. Nehemiah and Daniel were both employees of a secular government, but they took their faith and walk with God seriously.

In short, none of us is off the hook if we’re not in “paid Christian employment.” We’re all in “full-time Christian service”! Here’s what Paul wrote to ordinary believers at the church at Philippi:

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing. (Philippians 2.14 -1 6, MSG)

As we begin reading Nehemiah (for those in our Reading Program), Eugene Peterson’s Introduction, as it appears in The Message Bible, has a strong word.

I’ve written the book Everyone on the Wall, a title taken from a metaphorical approach to Nehemiah’s wall building. I saw all kinds of people building the wall as a picture of everyone involved in mission. It’s not a bad metaphor.

But Peterson takes the book for what it is: the story of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem (chapters 1 – 6) and Ezra challenging the people to live in accordance with God’s law (study, do, teach, remember?). It’s a story of “secular” work (wall building) and “sacred” work (preaching) cooperating. Here’s how Peterson tells it:

Separating life into distinct categories of “sacred” and “secular” damages—sometimes irreparably—any attempt to live a whole and satisfying life, a coherent life with meaning and purpose, a life lived to the glory of God. Nevertheless, the practice is widespread. But where did people come up with the habit of separating themselves and the world around them into these two camps? It surely wasn’t from the Bible. The Holy Scriptures, from beginning to end, strenuously resist such a separation.

The damage a sacred-secular split does to life is most obvious when applied to daily work. It is common for us to refer to the work of pastors, priests, and missionaries as “sacred,” and that of lawyers, farmers, and engineers as “secular.” It is also wrong. Work, by its very nature, is holy. The biblical story is dominated by people who have jobs in gardening, shepherding, the military, politics, carpentry, tent making, homemaking, fishing, and more.

Nehemiah is one of these. He started out as a government worker in the employ of a foreign king. Then he became—and this is the work he tells us of in these memoirs—a building contractor, called in to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. His coworker Ezra was a scholar and teacher working with the Scriptures. Nehemiah worked with stones and mortar. The stories of the two men are interwoven in a seamless fabric of vocational holiness. Neither job was more or less important or holy than the other. Nehemiah needed Ezra; Ezra needed Nehemiah. God’s people needed the work of both of them. We still do. – Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Nehemiah, The Message Bible

That’s really good. Forget the metaphor, Nehemiah came in as a “building contractor,” who had to build under wartime conditions. He was also a governor. All “secular” work. But work and how we do it is important, as I’ve written before.

Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. (Genesis 2.1, 2, MSG)

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17, ESV)

At least I think it was a mistake. See what you think…

I already observed in my post script to Ezra’s Faith that stories of Bible characters or the saints are descriptive, not proscriptive. We’re not called to take every saint’s experience as normative for all people for all time.

For example, in the early days of my organization, The Navigators, founder Dawson Trotman was drawn to the story of George Mueller’s not ever asking anyone for money. He only asked God. And it worked for George Mueller. Dawson would say (I’m told), “If the subject of money comes up, change the subject.” Today, Navigators joyfully share their vision of relational disciple-making and invite folks to partner with us just as Paul did:

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4.15 – 19, ESV)

Back to Ezra. We observed in Ezra 9 that the returning exiles had once again inter-married with the surrounding nations. A bad thing. What to do? To Ezra, the solution was simple:

Ezra the priest stood up and spoke: “You’ve broken trust. You’ve married foreign wives. You’ve piled guilt on Israel. Now make your confession to GOD, the God of your ancestors, and do what he wants you to do: Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives.” (Ezra 10.10, 11, MSG)

The chapter goes on to describe the process by which this would happen and lists the names of priests who had foreign wives, ending with:

All these had married foreign wives and some had also had children by them. (Ezra 10.44, MSG)

By the way, that’s the last verse in Ezra. The book ends there, and it’s always bothered me. Sure, they shouldn’t have married the foreign women, but they did, and now they’ve been married some time and had children. Do we now send these women and the children back to those pagan cultures? Or do we keep them with us, exposed to the true God and his grace? In short, is it OK to say that for all of his devotion and zeal, Ezra was wrong?

Dr Willie Peterson, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, first introduced me to that possibility. When I asked about the events of Ezra 10, Willie replied simply, “Ezra was wrong.” Certainly the men married to foreign women could not allow those women to drag them into worship of false gods. But surely, they could try to introduce the women to the true God and raise the children in the faith. Certainly that’s the New Testament standard:

For the rest of you who are in mixed marriages—Christian married to non-Christian—we have no explicit command from the Master. So this is what you must do. If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be left out; as it is, they also are included in the spiritual purposes of God. On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can. You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God. (1 Corinthians 7.12 – 16, MSG)

If you missed the blog on Tony Campolo, please check it out. Tony saw our responsibility to reach out to the poor and love those who are different from us.

The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the two sons are introduced this way:

By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story… (Luke 15.1 – 3, MSG)

Ezra did not have the benefit of Jesus’ teaching on this subject so it’s easy (and maybe a bit unfair) for us to evaluate Ezra’s actions in hindsight. Ezra was a good man: he studied God’s word and put it into practice faithfully and consistently. But that doesn’t mean ALL his actions are positive examples for us.

Before we get back to Ezra and Nehemiah, here’s a story too pertinent to ignore: Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions, by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2024.

The article opens:

Hallelujah! Bibles are a bright spot in books this year. 

Worries about the economy, conflicts abroad and uncertainty over the election pushed readers toward the publication in droves. Bible sales are up 22% in the U.S. through the end of October, compared with the same period last year, according to book tracker Circana BookScan. By contrast, total U.S. print book sales were up less than 1% in that period. 

“People are experiencing anxiety themselves, or they’re worried for their children and grandchildren,” said Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. “It’s related to artificial intelligence, election cycles…and all of that feeds a desire for assurance that we’re going to be OK.”

Cely Vazquez, a 28-year-old artist and influencer who has appeared on the reality TV show “Love Island USA,” recently bought her first Bible—one from the “She Reads Truth” line—at Barnes & Noble. 

“I’ve had Bibles that my mom gave me, but I felt I needed my own to start my own journey, that it symbolized I was starting a walk with God,” she said. “I felt something was missing. It’s a combination of where we are in the world, general anxiety and the sense that meaning and comfort can be found in the Bible.”  

The article continues:

The demand for Bibles is rising despite evidence that the country is growing increasingly secularized. 

The Pew Research Center found that about 28% of adults in the U.S. now consider themselves religiously unaffiliated. Yet Bible sales rose to 14.2 million in 2023 from 9.7 million in 2019, and hit 13.7 million in the first 10 months of this year. Readers are also stocking up on related titles that provide guidance, insights and context—even sets of stickers to flag particularly meaningful passages. 

The article closes:

Amber Cimiotti, a 38-year-old mother of two in Henderson, Nev., attributes the increase in Bible sales in part to podcasters and Tiktokers like herself sharing easily digestible stories about Christianity.

She started to read the Bible this year after feeling unfulfilled by years of advice on self-care, staying healthy and pursuing a career. She said she also sought stability as “things just went off the rails a little too quickly” throughout society. “We’re kind of holding on to the edge of the ship, like, we’re not sure what’s happening here.”

Rev. Blaine Crawford, pastor of the Irvington Presbyterian Church in suburban Westchester, N.Y., said he is seeing renewed interest in study groups. The Bible is a “grand epic story of the great questions of life. What do we do with grief or anger, what are we here for, where is the world going? The Bible provides a counterpart in a conversation about what we’re doing at this time.”

What’s the takeaway? Here are some suggestions. What do you think?

• There is a spiritual hunger out there, and we should be alert for it in our conversations with friends and co-workers.
• We shouldn’t be reluctant to share what the Bible means to us.
• We should be prepared to help folks in their spiritual journeys. For example, The Navigators’ 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan and The Time with God Weekly Journal.
  • Here’s an example: Colorado Springs television news anchor Dianne Derby has written a marvelous book Two Hundred Tuesdays: What a Pearl Harbor Survivor Taught Me about Life, Love, and Faith about how 100-year-old Jim Downing invited her to do bible study. Like the Tik-Tok influencer, she, too, bought her first bible at Barnes and Noble. Jim’s invitation to Dianne is an example for us, and the book contains what he taught her. In July 2022, I wrote about their meeting.
• Finally, let’s pray that the Word will do its work.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2.1 – 4, ESV)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8.3, ESV)

Can it be Advent Season already? Where does the time go?!

Today’s theme, HOPE, should be a reminder where our hope lies: not in our bank account, not in our government (or the government some people wish had won the election), not in the apparent resilience of the United States.

No, our hope is in Jesus. Not only our hope, but the hope of the world is Jesus.

May God be gracious to us and bless us 
and make his face to shine upon us,          Selah 
that your way may be known on earth, 
your saving power among all nations. 
Let the peoples praise you, O God; 
let all the peoples praise you! (Psalm 67.1 - 3, ESV)

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope. (Matthew 12.18 - 21, ESV)

Tomorrow is December 1 and the first Sunday of Advent. Pastors (and we blog writers) are struggling to write something original for our constituencies who have heard the story hundreds or thousands of times.

But there are those who have yet to hear about Jesus once. I was reminded of this sad fact by a note from the Come and See Foundation, which is committed to sharing the good news of Jesus through The Chosen. Here’s a snippet from a post by Larry Lundstrom ( I recommend the article in its entirety.):

At the Dunamis Conference in São Paulo, 15,000 students and 2,000 church leaders gathered for worship, and just after a screening of Come and See’s EVERYONE video — with its call to bring the story of Jesus to everyone — the stadium erupted. The Spirit moved, creating new partnerships and opportunities to share The Chosen with the world. Just one example: Bible Society Brazil is committed to sharing The Chosen with 3,200 Amazon River communities this Christmas, bringing the Gospel to some of the most remote parts of the world. And projection systems, translated Bibles, and discussion guides will be left behind, ensuring the message continues to grow long after the screenings.

Image (above) : Ministry boats delivering Bibles and Christmas with The Chosen in Portuguese for 3200 communities.

Maybe that should be our theme for Advent: who hasn’t heard and how can we get the message to them?

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9.2, ESV)

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10.14, 15, ESV)

We looked at Ezra’s confession before Thanksgiving. Confession isn’t a bad thing. It’s simple acknowledgement of where we have gone wrong in the past so that we can change course in the future.

That’s why Chicago Bears’ coach Matt Eberflus’ post game behavior Thanksgiving Day is a mystery.

ESPN reporter Courtney Cronin put it simply:

With 36 seconds remaining, trailing by three points after putting together a furious second-half comeback, the Chicago Bears were in position to tie or defeat the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

But late-game clock mismanagement assured the Bears would not get the chance to complete a come-from-behind victory against their division rival. – November 28, 2024, emphasis mine

36 seconds and one time out is a lifetime in football. The Bears had the ball in Lions territory. They needed only a few yards to get in range of a tying field goal, and a touchdown would win the game. How many plays did they run in that 36 seconds? One. One play, which they started with six seconds to go. As Courtney said “late-game clock mismanagement.” But what did the coach say?

When asked postgame how the Bears should have managed the final sequence in retrospect, Eberflus doubled down on the team’s late-game operation.

“I like what we did there,” Eberflus said. “Again, once it’s under seven [seconds], you’re going to call a timeout there — actually under 12 and then really you don’t have an option because it’s third to fourth, you have to throw it into the end zone then.

“To me it’s — I think we handled it the right way, I do believe that you just rerack the play, get it in bounds and call timeout, and that’s why we held it and didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

“I like what we did there…We handled it the right way.” Really? Letting 30 seconds run off the clock without running a play is the right way?! It’s mind-boggling. Where’s a confession when you need one?

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1.8, 9, ESV)

PS Bears coach Eberflus was fired today.

Enjoy the day! We have family and neighbors coming over.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, 
for his steadfast love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the God of gods, 
for his steadfast love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the Lord of lords, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

to him who alone does great wonders, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

to him who by understanding made the heavens, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

to him who spread out the earth above the waters, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

to him who made the great lights, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

the sun to rule over the day, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

the moon and stars to rule over the night, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

...It is he who remembered us in our low estate, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

and rescued us from our foes, 
for his steadfast love endures forever; 

he who gives food to all flesh, 
for his steadfast love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the God of heaven, 
for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136, ESV)

We’ve seen Ezra’s purpose: Study, Do, Teach and Ezra’s faith. Today, in Ezra 9, we look at his intensity and serious hatred of sin:

After all this was done, the leaders came to me and said, “The People of Israel, priests and Levites included, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people around here with all their vulgar obscenities—Canaanites, …. They have given some of their daughters in marriage to them and have taken some of their daughters for marriage to their sons. The holy seed is now all mixed in with these other peoples. And our leaders have led the way in this betrayal.”

When I heard all this, I ripped my clothes and my cape; I pulled hair from my head and out of my beard; I slumped to the ground, appalled. (Ezra 9.1 – 3, MSG)

Wow. That’s a reaction. I bemoan all the weirdness in our culture and say, “Oh, my.” I haven’t ripped my clothes or pulled out my hair. And I certainly haven’t confessed…

At the evening sacrifice I picked myself up from my utter devastation, and in my ripped clothes and cape fell to my knees and stretched out my hands to GOD, my God. And I prayed: “My dear God, I’m so totally ashamed, I can’t bear to face you. O my God—our iniquities are piled up so high that we can’t see out; our guilt touches the skies… (Ezra 9.5, 6, MSG)

“Our” iniquities?! Ezra hadn’t done anything. His confession continues:

And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind, the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, “The land you’re taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they’ve filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other. Whatever you do, don’t give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters…Yet here we are, at it again, breaking your commandments by intermarrying with the people who practice all these obscenities! Are you angry to the point of wiping us out completely, without even a few stragglers, with no way out at all? (Ezra 9.10 – 12, 14 MSG)

The US is not and never was a theocracy like Israel, but we seem to be breaking more and more of God’s laws. Maybe instead of always finger-pointing at “them,” we should be confessing “our” sins. Daniel did:

I poured out my heart, baring my soul to GOD, my God: “O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land. You have done everything right, Master, but all we have to show for our lives is guilt and shame, the whole lot of us—people of Judah, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel at home and Israel in exile in all the places we’ve been banished to because of our betrayal of you. Oh yes, GOD, we’ve been exposed in our shame, all of us—our kings, leaders, parents—before the whole world. And deservedly so, because of our sin.” (Daniel 9.4 – 8, MSG)

If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (1 John 1.8 – 10, MSG)

We saw Ezra come on the scene in chapter 7, and we looked at his purpose: study, do, teach. Today let’s look at another aspect of Ezra as told in chapter 8. Ezra is preparing to take a contingent of people back to Jerusalem, and the first part of the chapter is taken up with their names:

These are the family heads and those who signed up to go up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king… (Ezra 8.1, MSG)

He gathered them for a pre-travel meeting, and I love this paragraph:

I gathered them together at the canal that runs to Ahava. We camped there three days…I proclaimed a fast there beside the Ahava Canal, a fast to humble ourselves before our God and pray for wise guidance for our journey—all our people and possessions. I was embarrassed to ask the king for a cavalry bodyguard to protect us from bandits on the road. We had just told the king, “Our God lovingly looks after all those who seek him, but turns away in disgust from those who leave him.” (Ezra 8.15, 21, 22, MSG)

Isn’t that something? Ezra asked God for protection instead of asking the king. After all, he had just told the king that God protects those who seek him! Wow. Ezra acted in accordance with his faith. Either God protects or he doesn’t, and if he does, that’s enough. We don’t need the king’s protection.

So we fasted and prayed about these concerns. And he listened…We left the Ahava Canal on the twelfth day of the first month to travel to Jerusalem. God was with us all the way and kept us safe from bandits and highwaymen. (Ezra 8.23, 31, MSG)

Ezra took God’s word with respect to protection. George Mueller, in England in the 1800s, took God’s word with respect to provision. Here’s a succinct summary:

How does one man care for ten thousand orphans and raise millions of dollars (in today’s currency) without asking for a single donation or ever going into debt? By taking God seriously on His word in Matthew 7.7—ask and it will be given to you. – Karisa You, September 6, 2022

The article is worth the read in its entirety. If you’re not familiar with George Mueller and his orphanages, here’s a typical story (from the You article):

One morning, Muller awoke to the news that the orphanage, which housed 300 children, had no food. Muller instructed the housemother to seat all the children in the dining room. He thanked God for food, and they waited for God to provide, as He always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked at the door.

“Mr. Muller,” he confessed, “last night, I could not sleep. Somehow, I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.”

The next knock revealed a milkman whose cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the cart was fixed, the milkman explained, so would the children like some free milk?

What am I believing God for? Are my actions congruent with my alleged belief?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. (Hebrews 11.1, 2, ESV)

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (Romans 4.20, 21, KJV)

PS I’m not saying that our faith and actions will always look like Ezra’s and George Mueller’s. Stories are not necessarily formulas on exactly what we should do in our specific situations. We’ll see that principle before we leave our study of Ezra. But Ezra’s trust for protection and Mueller’s for provision are instructive and inspiring.