{"id":8509,"date":"2024-12-10T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=8509"},"modified":"2024-12-07T07:53:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T14:53:49","slug":"pausing-the-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=8509","title":{"rendered":"Pausing the Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After all that effort in Nehemiah chapter 4 to keep the wall-building project going<\/a>, why would he pause in chapter 5? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great protest was mounted by the people, including the wives, against their fellow Jews. Some said, \u201cWe have big families, and we need food just to survive.\u201d Others said, \u201cWe\u2019re having to mortgage our fields and vineyards and homes to get enough grain to keep from starving.\u201d And others said, \u201cWe\u2019re having to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards. Look: We\u2019re the same flesh and blood as our brothers here; our children are just as good as theirs. Yet here we are having to sell our children off as slaves\u2014some of our daughters have already been sold\u2014and we can\u2019t do anything about it because our fields and vineyards are owned by somebody else.\u201d (Nehemiah 5.1 – 5, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the rich are oppressing the poor. And is that worth pausing the work for? Yes, it is…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got really angry when I heard their protest and complaints. After thinking it over, I called the nobles and officials on the carpet. I said, \u201cEach one of you is gouging his brother.\u201d Then I called a big meeting to deal with them. (Nehemiah 5.6 – 8, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t build the wall and have a big meeting at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some who might say, “Concern for the poor is a distraction from preaching the gospel.” Tony Campolo<\/a> and Tim McConnell<\/a> at First Presbyterian, Colorado Springs, would vehemently disagree. (Please review those two blogs if you’ve forgotten.) So would James:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear friends, do you think you\u2019ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, \u201cGood morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!\u201d and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup\u2014where does that get you? Isn\u2019t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? (James 2.14 – 17, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Apostle John agrees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God\u2019s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let\u2019s not just talk about love; let\u2019s practice real love. (1 John 3.17, 18, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Nehemiah. He chastised the rich and called for action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re doing is wrong. Is there no fear of God left in you? Don\u2019t you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you? \u201cI and my brothers and the people working for me have also loaned them money. But this gouging them with interest has to stop. Give them back their foreclosed fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes right now. And forgive your claims on their money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.\u201d They said, \u201cWe\u2019ll give it all back. We won\u2019t make any more demands on them. We\u2019ll do everything you say.\u201d (Nehemiah 5.9 – 12, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that the issue is “fear of God.” That’s what kept Job in line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have I ignored the needs of the poor, turned my back on the indigent, Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face while they languished? Wasn\u2019t my home always open to them? Weren\u2019t they always welcome at my table? Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold when they had no warm clothes? Didn\u2019t the poor bless me when they saw me coming, knowing I\u2019d brought coats from my closet? If I\u2019ve ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, Go ahead, break both my arms, cut off all my fingers! The fear of God has kept me from these things<\/strong>\u2014 how else could I ever face him? (Job 31.16 – 23, MSG, emphasis mine)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll see tomorrow that Nehemiah finished the wall. He didn’t abandon his mission…but he took care of the poor first. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After all that effort in Nehemiah chapter 4 to keep the wall-building project going, why would he pause in chapter 5? A great protest was mounted by the people, including the wives, against their fellow Jews. Some said, \u201cWe have big families, and we need food just to survive.\u201d Others said, \u201cWe\u2019re having to mortgage … Continue reading Pausing the Work<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-2df","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8511,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509\/revisions\/8511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}