10 The the Danger of Small Compromises (Nehemiah 13)

Krisan Marotta: Good morning and welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is the final talk in our series on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. We'll be covering chapter 13. You can find the lecture notes on our website at wednesdayintheword.com slash Nehemiah 10. Thank you for joining us. Okay, we're in Nehemiah chapter 13 today. In many ways, chapter 13 is an epilogue. It's kind of the story ended in chapter 12. And the events of chapter 13 take place actually several years later. So we're not exactly sure of the date, but it this is like an afterthought as something that was added essentially after the story ends. So the the chapter is not exactly in chronological order, and I'm going to skip around a little bit just to try to put it back. So look at chapters 13, chapter 13, verses 6 and 7. Nehemiah tells us that he had returned to Persia. So while all this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I went to the king, and after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem. And then he discovers what's going on. So if you remember, when we started the book, it opened in the 20th year of the king, which was about 445 or 446 BC. And now we learned he stayed there twelve years, or until the 32nd year of the king. So he stays twelve years as governor, and at that point he goes back to Persia. And presumably he went back to serving the king there. Now, some years later have passed some more years have passed, and he has asked permission to return to Jerusalem. And when he comes back, this is what he finds. So we don't know how much time has passed because he doesn't tell us how long he stayed in Persia, but I suspect he's an old man now. So this is just trying to put it all in perspective. He never really tells us his age at any point, but if you guess that it took a little bit of time for him to work his way up to being cupbearer of the king, so maybe you know you wouldn't start that as your your first apprenticed kind of job. You'd have to work up to it. So maybe he was on the younger side of middle age when the book opens and he stays twelve years and he goes back to Persia. Now he's probably an old man and he's going home to die, basically. Remember in chapter two, when he asks permission to make the initial trip, he asks to, or he f refers to Jerusalem as the city where his fathers are buried. So most people think at this point he's retiring and he wants to be buried in Jerusalem where his fathers are buried, and so he's asked permission basically to retire, to go home and live out his days. So what does he find when he comes back? This is, he says, Well, all this was going on in verse 6. What's been going on? Basically, he finds that the people have broken every vow they made in chapter 10. So what I want to that's kind of the interesting point, but I want to think about it because I don't think this was a momentous kind of quick about face, um, like making the golden calf. I suspect that this was a gradual just kind of slipping away. So that they started out with good intentions, uh, holding each other accountable, you know, walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and then somewhere along the line they lost their way. One of my uh favorite pastors compares moral failure to a flat tire. He says, most uh tires don't go flat as a result of a blowout, especially modern tires, because they're so well made. Most tires go flat over a long period of time. They get this little tiny leak that you it's almost imperceptible, and so this little tiny amount of air leaks out over time, and you're not even aware of it. You know, you may think, oh, the tire looks a little low, but it's probably the temperature change, and you're not even aware that there's a leak until suddenly you go out and the tire is flat. And moral failure or s or turning away is often the same thing. We start with one little compromise. Well, it's just one little decision. It's like a slow leak. We're not even aware we're making it until it's too late. So think about King David, for example. He probably didn't wake up one morning and decide to commit adultery. If you read through the stories that lead up to the events with him and Bathsheba, he begins giving responsibilities that are rightfully his as king to other people. So he's kind of shirking off his responsibilities, and then he begins indulging himself in little things and taking yet another wife, and and so finally he's home in his palace when he's supposed to be out on the battlefield, and he has the opportunity to see Bathsheba and that whole uh events transpire. So it was kind of a slow decline into his big his big tragedy. Um similarly, Judas, I imagine, probably didn't start out as a he probably started out as a petty thief, you know, just taking a few coins from the box and he had great intentions probably until finally he ends up, you know, selling Jesus for a handful of silver. And there are lots of examples, if you look through scripture, where it's these little decisions that have big consequences because it's like a slow leak. You start with this T, you know, you take this first step into compromise, and it's not always obvious, it's a bad step. Um it's not an intentional kind of high-handed, stiff-necked rebellion. It just seems reasonable, and yet it's devastating consequences. And that's what I think is going on in this chapter. And I want to look at each of the examples and look at, and in some way I'm speculating as to um how they got to this point, but I think it's pretty reasonable. I suspect the progress began as this slow leak that was barely noticed. So, what did Nehemiah find when he comes back after all these years? Let's start in, this is starting 13.1. On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the let me switch to the version you have. On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. For they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. So it starts with this effort kind of in the culture of trying to get back to the right way of doing things. And that's one thing I think that gives us a clue that this wasn't a big, high-handed moral rebellion. The book of the law is read, they see something, they go, hmm, we haven't been doing that, and they try to get back. Some of their leaders had compromised, and now they're trying to rectify the situation. So let's look at verse 4. Now, before this, Eliashab the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine and oil, which were given by commandments to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions to the priest. Okay, remember Tobiah? You'd probably recognize this because every time in this book, when you see the enemies of God, the people who are coming and say, No, don't build the wall, or we're going to attack you, Tobiah's name is Front and Sinner. He's one of these forceful, articulate voices, one of the two kind of dedicated enemies against God. And now we find they've made a room for him to live in the temple. Oh boy, what a good idea. How did that happen? He was resolutely against them all this way, and now he's related to the high priest, and he's they've they've cleared out a room where there used to be tithes and offerings. Presumably they don't need the room because no one's tithing and giving the offerings, and so they give it to a foreigner who's an enemy of God. But look also at verse 28, because there's another familiar name. And one of the sons of uh Jeediah, the son of Eliashab the high priest, was the son-in-law of Senbalat the Horonite. Remember him? That's the other enemy of God. So we find the other man in the story who was most opposed to God's doing, and everything Nehemiah was trying to do is related to the high priest, who's the spiritual leader of the day. Um his grandson is married to Senbalat's daughter. Well, you're not supposed to marry foreigners, and not only so not only is it a mixed marriage, it's it's this guy. So here you have Eliashab the high priest, the spiritual leader of the nation, and he's made alliances with uh two men who were most committed to the enemy to to be against God's purposes. So why would he do this? I mean what this is where I'm speculating. Was he a deeply wicked man? Was he just callous? Had he turned away from God? And I'm speculating, but I think he was probably just doing what he thought was right. Because suppose he didn't have, say, the charismatic personality of Nehemiah. Nehemiah look goes back to Persia. He probably doesn't have the respect of Ezra, and he's got to lead these people. And maybe he doesn't have, you know, he doesn't have the Persian king as his friend, so he doesn't have that kind of clout. Maybe he doesn't have the engaging leadership personality, and now he's got to live here in Jerusalem surrounded by his enemies. Well, isn't it better to keep them close? You know, start a little dialogue with them. Maybe talk to them now and then so they don't want to attack you. So, you know, maybe he meets with Tobiah once in a while and Tobiah comes to talk to him. Well, wouldn't it be hospitable to offer him a place to stay if he's gonna come and talk and we just keep the dialogue open? So, you know, you gotta understand your enemy's point of view and keep them from attacking and say, you know, let's reduce the tensions. That's that's a good strategy, right? That would be good. So he'll just let Tobias stay overnight once in a while. And, you know, if he sees Sam Ballot at family gatherings, that's a good thing, you know. They're related by marriage, then he's less likely to attack. They would, you know, see each other maybe at events, so they establish this relationship, this personal rapport. It makes a whole lot of sense, right? It keeps everybody safe. So one mixed marriage, you know, that can't hurt when it's such a good cause, and one occasional foreigner staying in the temple. Is that really such a bad thing if it averts a war? You can see how he could think this through and go, well, yeah, I don't have the the uh the power that Nehemiah had, or the charisma he had, or the respect of Ezra, so I've got to do something. What am I gonna do? I need to buy an sambalad on my side, so you just make a little compromise. And then you make another little compromise. And eventually they're living in the temple. And that, I would say, the tire is leaking. This is probably a reasonably good man who desired to do the right thing, but instead of drawing lines that need to be drawn, he starts making compromises. So let me just um just to bring in last year, for those of you who are here for Romans, remember in Romans 13, same chapter number, uh, we studied this part. Uh well, Romans 13, 14. He's talking about behave decently, um, avoiding, it's in the context of avoiding sexual immorality and so on, and he says, rather close yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. It's that don't even think about it part that I wanted to remind you of. The King James translates that don't make provisions for the flesh. And I like that translation because the idea is don't even go down the road. Don't start, don't compromise. If this is going to tempt you, don't even put yourself in the same room with it. Don't even start. So the idea is don't make room in your life for the things that are going to trip you up. Don't make it easier for yourself. So if you're an alcoholic, don't keep a bottle of wine in the kitchen, you know, or if you're a shopaholic, cancel the subscriptions to all your catalogs. Or um, I heard this as diet advice once, but I think it applies to sinfulness too. I have this problem with Snickers bars. And I've learned that it's better not to buy a whole bag of Snickers bars. You buy one bar or one mini kind of piece, because if you buy the whole bag, you eat the whole bag. So the diet advice I heard was only buy what you attend to eat. So if you you're out, don't buy a dozen donuts, buy one donut. Don't buy, you know, a whole box of cookies, buy one cookie. Because if you buy the whole thing, you end up eating the whole thing. Well, I think this is the same idea. It works for me. I have I have to tell you. If you don't buy the whole bag of potato chips, you buy the little snack size, that's all you can eat. But this is same idea here. Don't make provision for the flesh. Don't start down the road where you're likely to fail, because little compromises can have big consequences. So if you're single and there's a married man in the office who likes to flirt with you, turn and run. Don't even go there. Don't even start. And you, you know, it's easy to say, oh, well, you know, it's just a little conversation, you know, it's just over the water cooler, and and there's no, you know, it's just we enjoy it, it's a nice break from the stress of work. Well, okay, we're just gonna have coffee once, but it's no big deal because we were both on break, and okay, we're gonna well it's coffee, but now we're gonna have lunch together. And it that's how it starts. You don't even want to what starts with a smile can end up in an affair, and you've got, if you're tempted, you've got to turn and flee. So I think that's what's going on with Eliasheb. I'm giving him the credit, uh the benefit of the doubt that he probably didn't set out to rebel against God. He just worked out a truth of sorts to try to make life easier for the Israelites. But he was compromising on their vows, and that had big consequences later on. Okay, so before we look at how Nehemiah responds to this, I want to go through each problem. So I'm gonna skip through the chapter and look at what each problem was. Then we're gonna go back and pick up how Nehemiah responds to them. Because it's his response, I think, is actually the really enlightening thing of the chapter. So the next problem we find is in 1315. In those days I saw the people of Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine and grapes and figs and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on that day when they sold food. Tyreans also who lived in the city brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Jerusalem, in Jerusalem itself. So I remarked to the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this wicked thing you have done? So remember, the first vow was mixed marriages, the next one was keeping the Sabbath holy. And you can imagine how this would start. Everyone else is doing business in the marketplace on the Sabbath, and if you give up one day, then you get behind. And it probably started with, well, you know, they mentioned the merchants of Tyree coming in, and okay, well, we can't sell, so we'll let them sell on the Sabbath, and we'll just buy from them because we're not allowed to do any work. So that's not really breaking the law because we're just letting them sell, and we're buying from them. Well, okay, I don't have any cash, so maybe I'll trade some of my goods for their goods, and well, if I'm going to trade with them, I might as well trade with this other person who needs it. And suddenly you're buying and selling every week. I think that's probably what was going on here. Notice that most of the things that are mentioned are food. Well, you can see how that would be tempted. You there's no refrigeration, there's no freezers. You can't, in those days, you've got to basically prepare what you're going to eat that day every day. Food spoils quickly. So if they're going to come in and provide it and you don't have to work to get it, and you can just buy it on the Sabbath, isn't that, isn't that really kind of the point of it all? You know, they could say, well, we're not digging our wells, we're not plowing our fields, so we're not really working, we're just, you know, buying and selling a little bit. Um so, you know, maybe one market opened and then maybe two or three, and first you allow the Gentiles to buy and sell, well, then you have to start allowing the Jews to buy and sell with them. And you get this one compromise leads to another, to another, to another. And they couldn't see what they were doing until Nehemiah comes back and says, Hold it, what's going on here? I think Nehemiah could probably see it because he'd been away. You know, when you're immersed in it, you start those little compromises, everyone's doing it, it just seems so normal. You need somebody who comes in from the outside and says, Hold it, how did we get from A to Z? How did you get here? Um I think that's why Nehemiah has the clarity. You know how you see someone's child you haven't seen in a long time, and you go, wow, look how different they are. And the parents go, hmm, they're different? You know. It's like because you see the changes every day, you don't notice, but when you've when you've been away, you have kind of a clarity. So again, I don't think they're in massive rebellion here. I don't think there's a prophetic voice, you know, calling them as um something, you know, that this is great stiff-necked rebellion. They weren't in um unusual economic distress. We don't see God bringing judgment on them. They're just slipping away. They're just making these small compromises that lead to big consequences. Okay, look at the third problem we find in um verses 23 and through 25. In those days I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Amnon, and Moab, and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but the language of each of the people. And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them anyway, we're gonna go on with that. Nice reaction, huh? So, again, now they said no mixed marriages, not only have they mixed marriages, the their children of these marriages aren't even speaking Hebrew. They're speaking whatever the language of their mothers were. And notice he goes after their fathers. He doesn't go after the young married couples, he goes after the fathers. Because marriages in that day were arranged by your parents. You children basically were told who they were going to marry. They didn't have a whole lot of choice. And so who's responsible for the marriage? The father, and that who is who Nehemiah confronts. Um you can see how the fathers would be tempted to do this if there were economic distress, if there were security reasons, you know, if you're married to an Ammonite, they're probably less likely to attack you. Um, maybe they were more well off. Think of all the goats and cows and things this woman might bring into the marriage. And wouldn't that be better for your son after all to be well off, give him some, you know, a dowry and things to get started? So the poorer they are, you know, the more tempting this would be. They want what's best for their children after all. You know, so wouldn't it be much better to, you know, to marry my daughter to this well-to-do young man from Ashdod who could provide for her rather than a poor Jew who, you know, they might starve all their lives? So, you know, you could kind of maybe you'll evangelize them, you know, maybe they'll convert. And uh you start down that line, you start down those compromises, and you end up in trouble. So look at how Nehemiah deals with these problems, because I think that's the really instructive part. It's almost embarrassing how he responds. A lot of combinator commentators will find fault with Nehemiah here and say that he overreacted and that he overdid it. Because he's ruthless. He really is ruthless. So, first let's go back to Tobiah when he finds Tobiah living in the temple. Um where was that? Verse 7. So he comes back to Jerusalem, and then I discovered the evil that Eliashem had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave the orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought them back there to the vessels and the and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. And I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and singers who did the work had each fled to his field. So I confronted the officials and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? Then I called them, then I keep losing my place here, and I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all of Judah brought the tithe of grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses, and I appointed his treasurers, and he goes on to their list those names. So he doesn't say, okay, Tobio, you're gonna have to leave. You've got a, you know, a couple of weeks to get your things out, and um, you know, can you be out by Friday? He goes in and he throws everything out, tosses them out, and then he like fumigates the place. You know, it's like we're gonna get this place really clean. It's like we don't want any remnant of this forum in our here. It's awfully reminiscent of what Jesus does later in the temple. So he takes immediate, ruthless action. Look at the Sabbath breaking in verses. seventeen and nineteen. Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. As it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath, and I stationed some of my servants at the gates that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and the sellers and of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again I will lay hands on you. From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. So again he doesn't just say you've got to stop doing this. He slams the doors in people's faces. He puts guards at the post he gets angry with them and he says basically what the the um the business about people waiting outside the gates is he closes the doors and they all line up outside the gates so that when the doors open they can race in and be the first one to get the prime spot in the marketplace. So that's the business about why do you lodge outside the wall? He's saying you can't even line up here to get your spot in the marketplace or we're going to come down and physically attack you. So if you're just looking for a way to get around the restrictions, you know we're not going to do business on the Sabbath, we're gonna we're gonna get there first, basically forget it, you were not even to come here. Okay then look at his last response how he treats the fathers who'd given their children in mixed marriages. This is we verse 25, and I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair probably from their beards. And I made them take an oath in the name of God saying you shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him and he was beloved by his God and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women made him even him to sin shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women and he mentions that the grandson of the high priest was married to the daughter of Zanbalat the Hornite and he says I chased him from me. So why is he so ruthless? I mean why does he like fumigate the apartment in the temple and slam the doors in people's faces and refuse to let them camp outside and why would he go so far as to pluck the beards of the fathers? Why would he react so strongly to this? Was he just a you know a crotchety old man now and um just overreacting bless you I think he's ruthless precisely to make the point that compromises start small that you begin with one little well I'll just you know do this one little thing it's no big deal and you end up in disaster later on. So you begin you know in Minnesota with a little tiny stream and you end up in Louisiana with the Mississippi that's miles wide and his point is you start out making these little small decisions, these little compromises and alliances and before you know it, you you have turned away. I think Jesus makes the same point in Matthew 18. This is probably a familiar passage to you. It's Matthew 187-9 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin. Such things must come but woe to the man through whom they come. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. And what is Jesus saying there I think he's using this strong exaggerated language to make the same point. You need to be ruthless toward the flesh toward sinful actions it starts with little compromises and we need to help each other draw those lines you know you have to be willing to say to someone the tire's leaking you know you've got to deal with this now. Turn off the faucet before you start mopping the floor. You know deal with the problem at its source. And that's the point Nehemiah's making and I think he reacts with the same kind of exaggerated force to make the point. I have a friend who was addicted to Christian romance novels. Now you might think well what's wrong with Christian romance novels? How could that be a problem? Well she realized for her that they were becoming a source of fantasy that she was comparing her real life husband to these fictional guys and of course he could never measure up and it was bringing bitterness and dissatisfaction into their marriage and that's where it starts a little dissatisfaction and then you start looking elsewhere. Well she threw them all out because I think she wisely recognized this was going to lead to a problem. One of my college friends is male and still single has given up going to the beach because he says it's just too much ground for temptation, which brings up a whole nother issue of how we ought to teach our daughters to be dressing, especially at the beach. But anyway, and I think it was wise of him to realize this is the place where it starts and I have to avoid that. Now I'm not advocating book banning here or you know no more beach vacations. What I'm advocating is look where there's a weakness in your life and if you have a weakness there don't rush into it. It's foolhardy to put yourself in situations where you're likely to fail. So you know if you're married and there's you know it's you can see how it happens. Well I'm just an internet chat you know we're just talking about politics and I've never even met these people and you know it's just fun it's downtime so I'm just on the internet a while and okay now I'm talking to this one particular man but we've never even met and you know we just we really have this connection on politics and and okay well he's gonna come to town and we're gonna meet for coffee but it's just you know it's just a chance to meet him face to face and okay he's coming back and there it goes. You start with one little compromise and you have to realize when the temptation begins turn and flee because we are not that strong. You know well maybe I'll just work late tonight. It's just one night you know I'll just I'll skip those family obligations but it's just today and it won't happen again. It'll just be today well okay next week too I kind of have that big meeting and maybe the week after but then I'm done then I'm not gonna go there anymore. Or you know you say a little white lie. It's just well I just didn't want to tell her the how bad it made me feel so you know I'll just uh not deal with it and I'll just cover it up and well maybe now the friendship starts disintegrating you know because we didn't talk about it or get it out or you know I'll ignore my husband tonight because I'm really tired or you know I deserve nice things. So yes buying this puts me over budget but it's just one time. It's just one little thing and we've had such a bad week and it's on sale after all you know we start justifying those things and suddenly you're in debt or in an affair. So that's I think the point of chapter 13 is moral failure usually doesn't begin with wake up one morning and decide I'm gonna throw God out the window. It starts with well I'm just gonna date this guy once I mean I'm gonna evangelize him or I'm just gonna you know pad the expense account it's only 20 bucks it's not a big deal and I'm sure I'll work it off anyway or we make these little tiny compromises and then it's easier to make the next one and then it's easier to make the next one. So that's what we want to avoid. One last observation I want to pick up there's if you notice there are three verses I skipped and I think that's how I'd like to close this book. Three times in this chapter Nehemiah praise. In verse 1314 he says Remember me O my God concerning this and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service. And then again in in verse 22 Remember this also in my favor, O my God and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. And then the last line of the book verse thirty one remember me, O my God for good. I think that's instructive we see this ruthless reaction to the sin and yet three times he turns to God and says Help me, remember me I'm trying to do the right thing look on me with grace and favor. And if you think about other leaders of the his day or even our day Nehemiah could have built a great monument to himself. You know there could be a big inscription on the wall of Jerusalem that said built by Nehemiah the Great you know or or statues in the square of Nehemiah commemorating this great work that they did or a plaque in the temple or something. You think of when we like when Soviet Union fell how many hundreds of statues were there to Lenin and pictures or when um Iran or Iraq fell how many hundreds of pictures and statues were there of Saddam Hussein that's what leaders do. They look for honor and wealth and they want generations to remember them and they build these statues and they keep records and they you know they have pictures in every square and Nehemiah could have done that. He could have been subject to that temptation and instead we see him saying God you remember me with favor. He doesn't care if the world remembers him he wants God to remember him with favor and that I think is the attitude we want to emulate we've covered a lot of ground in this book and if you think about it it's a little overwhelming. I mean I look at it and I go I could never be a leader like Nehemiah I mean we've talked about you know godly leadership and being willing to talk to God about the people and talk to the people about God and motivating those that you might be in leadership over to follow God, not yourself. And we've talked about being a community of believers so wanting to you know fix the broken wall in front of your house, find the place where God would have you serve, be in a community such that you work shoulder to shoulder and side to side and now on on top of all of that I've told you watch out for the slow leaks and you know the imperceptible ones that you won't even notice till it's too late. And that's kind of overwhelming but what I want to leave you with is what Nehemiah leaves us with. Remember me with favor, oh my God, because that's the point. It's not on our shoulders alone. What we've learned from this book if nothing else is that God delights in restoration that he takes what's broken and he fixes it. And he takes what's been destroyed and ruined and he builds something beautiful out of it. And he knows you inside out he knows where you're likely to have these slow leaks he knows your temptations he knows your doubts he knows the broken walls that he's put in your life and he's promised to restore them. It may seem like you know as I'm sure it did for these people that the broken walls are just too big and too overwhelming and that it's a bigger task than than anyone could ever undertake but it's not because we have a God who delights in that what he's specialized in. He's promised to get you through he's promised to walk with you to get you across the finish line to grant you an inheritance in his kingdom to apply all these lessons to your heart and to build you into the kind of person that he wants you to be and our response should be as Nehemiah's response throw ourself on his mercy and say God it's up to you remember me with favor. Look on me with grace take all my feeble efforts in whatever ways they're good or bad and use them for your glory and that's the best we can do and that's enough because God has promised to get us the rest of the way so I don't want to leave you overwhelmed thinking oh no I've got to go be vigilant and on tap for everything that might possibly cause me to trip up today. In a sense you do but you're not alone you have a God who delights in teaching you and helping you and that's where we want to turn remember me my God for good. Okay let me pray and then give you a chance to respond Father thank you for everything you've taught us through Nehemiah thank you for the lessons of restoration of rebuilding and we pray that we would that you would be taking them and applying them to our hearts writing them in our very souls making us the kind of people who turn to trust to you more who seek to follow you who seek to keep you at the center of our lives and we pray that you would take all the good and and use it and throw away any words that I might have said that were wrong or misleading or confusing. We just thank you that you don't leave us in our sin, you don't leave us in our frustration but that you meet us where we are to change us from the inside out. In Jesus name