No More Tears

  The climax of the book of Nehemiah is in chapter eight when Ezra climbs on a wooden platform and reads aloud to the people the book of the Law. The project of rebuilding the wall has led not just to a structural change in Jerusalem but a spiritual one as well. As the law is read and explained a sound breaks out. The people are weeping. Why? Because they had heard the law.

  It is not hard to figure out why. As they listened people began to comprehend just how far they were from God’s plan. They needed to change. Soon they would be confessing those sins and making plans to set things right.

 But not that day,

  Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

Nehemiah 8:9-10 

 

 There was much more work to do but on that day they were to celebrate where they were and what God had done for them. The people who “were weeping when they heard the words of the law” now were celebrating “because they understood the words which had been made known to them”.

 

  It is easy to be downtrodden in our spiritual growth when we see how far we have to go. But we shouldn’t fret. God is working on us and with us. As we grow to understand his ways we shouldn’t cry about where we are but rejoice in where we are going.

 

  It is easy to wallow in defeatism but it is far better to celebrate the God that leads us to victory.