Nehemiah 12:27-13:31
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Psalm 35:1-16
Proverbs 21:17-18
Two things I was reading today - the latter part of a book about the Battle of Gettysburg, and a report about Father George Kuforiji of St Francis Church in Portland. And I was struck by how, in both instances, there were people convinced they were doing the right thing, but in only one of those instances was doing the right thing manifest in humility, submission and obedience to authority, however difficult.
Generals Hancock (Union) and Armistead (Confederacy) were friends. Before the Civil War, Armistead lost both his daughter and his wife, and Hancock was there to help me through. When hostilities broke out, they parted as friends to return to their respective homes in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, planning to reunite after the war. They then went on to serve, and when ordered by their superiors to battle against each other, they did so, on the the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg, in a desperate Rebel attempt to break the Union line, an attack known as Pickett's Charge. Obedience even at great cost.
Over a hundred fifty years later and three thousand miles away, a new Nigerian priest, Father George Kuforiji, was installed as monsignor of St Francis Church in Portland, Oregon. The congregation of that parish had taken a secular bent, demanding (and getting) among other things various changes to the liturgy, such as a revision to the Apostle's Creed. Father George began to reverse these changes, and his efforts were met with opposition, often vitriolic, by what I am sure were well intentioned people who were unwilling to obey.
The book of Nehemiah, which we are well into today, is among many things a story of the revival of the faith of God's chosen people, and their relationship with Yahweh. This revival did not come easily. To start, there was the time and effort spent reading and teaching the Word; then there was the painful realization of the people's sinfulness and the righteousness of God's punishment. Through that, though, for the many who had taken foreign wives, what was the most difficult part of the revival was yet to come.
"On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud...it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God..." - Nehemiah 13:1
What then to do? Obedience or rebellion? To us today, thousands of years later, with the benefit of hindsight, the choice might seem clear. But to the many who had taken foreign wives who had borne them children, the prospect of excluding the women they loved, the mothers of their children, it would not have been as clear, and it would only have been natural for their minds to fly to various reasons why their wives were ok, their marriages were right, and surely this could not be what God wanted, or if it was, then He was wrong. What did they do?
"When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent." - Nehemiah 13:3.
I don't know if I would have been that obedient. And I don't know if I would have been as diligent in my tithing, or if I would have been able to stop working on the Sabbath. And I certainly don't know if I would have the zeal or the courage to impose God's law on a people that professed to follow Him, the way Nehemiah did on the Israelites. I fear I would have been more likely to try and justify my sinful behavior. All that I am not certain of, but I do know that God has given me free will, but while I am free to make my choices, I cannot dictate the consequences of my choices.
Father, when faced with the difficult choice between our ingrained sinfulness and Your will, give us the heart, the desire, the strength and the commitment to choose Your way.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Psalm 35:1-16
Proverbs 21:17-18
Two things I was reading today - the latter part of a book about the Battle of Gettysburg, and a report about Father George Kuforiji of St Francis Church in Portland. And I was struck by how, in both instances, there were people convinced they were doing the right thing, but in only one of those instances was doing the right thing manifest in humility, submission and obedience to authority, however difficult.
Generals Hancock (Union) and Armistead (Confederacy) were friends. Before the Civil War, Armistead lost both his daughter and his wife, and Hancock was there to help me through. When hostilities broke out, they parted as friends to return to their respective homes in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, planning to reunite after the war. They then went on to serve, and when ordered by their superiors to battle against each other, they did so, on the the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg, in a desperate Rebel attempt to break the Union line, an attack known as Pickett's Charge. Obedience even at great cost.
Over a hundred fifty years later and three thousand miles away, a new Nigerian priest, Father George Kuforiji, was installed as monsignor of St Francis Church in Portland, Oregon. The congregation of that parish had taken a secular bent, demanding (and getting) among other things various changes to the liturgy, such as a revision to the Apostle's Creed. Father George began to reverse these changes, and his efforts were met with opposition, often vitriolic, by what I am sure were well intentioned people who were unwilling to obey.
The book of Nehemiah, which we are well into today, is among many things a story of the revival of the faith of God's chosen people, and their relationship with Yahweh. This revival did not come easily. To start, there was the time and effort spent reading and teaching the Word; then there was the painful realization of the people's sinfulness and the righteousness of God's punishment. Through that, though, for the many who had taken foreign wives, what was the most difficult part of the revival was yet to come.
"On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud...it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God..." - Nehemiah 13:1
What then to do? Obedience or rebellion? To us today, thousands of years later, with the benefit of hindsight, the choice might seem clear. But to the many who had taken foreign wives who had borne them children, the prospect of excluding the women they loved, the mothers of their children, it would not have been as clear, and it would only have been natural for their minds to fly to various reasons why their wives were ok, their marriages were right, and surely this could not be what God wanted, or if it was, then He was wrong. What did they do?
"When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent." - Nehemiah 13:3.
I don't know if I would have been that obedient. And I don't know if I would have been as diligent in my tithing, or if I would have been able to stop working on the Sabbath. And I certainly don't know if I would have the zeal or the courage to impose God's law on a people that professed to follow Him, the way Nehemiah did on the Israelites. I fear I would have been more likely to try and justify my sinful behavior. All that I am not certain of, but I do know that God has given me free will, but while I am free to make my choices, I cannot dictate the consequences of my choices.
Father, when faced with the difficult choice between our ingrained sinfulness and Your will, give us the heart, the desire, the strength and the commitment to choose Your way.
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