Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
And Nehemiah
continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and
share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the
Lord is your strength!”
What would you say are the two key words of this
verse? Celebrate and joy. God’s people are to take time to celebrate
and joy comes from the Lord. Joy is also
your strength because this joy comes from God Himself and is a character of God. This is not joy that comes from you but joy
that comes from the Lord. Let’s focus on
these two key words, celebrate and joy
As a result of the walls of
Jerusalem being rebuilt, Nehemiah started chapter 8 by describing Ezra reading God’s
Word to the “whole assembly” (v 1-2) and note that he started reading aloud
“early in the morning until noon” (v 3).
We complain if a sermon is longer than 30 min while the people then were
willing to listen to the Word spoken for hours.
Perhaps this truth might speak to your heart about allowing being more
delighted to hear and learn from the Word of God. Reading and hearing it should not be
considered a difficult task. If it is,
you have a lot of spiritual growing up to do.
In verse 9 Nehemiah responded to seeing the assembly
weeping as Ezra was declaring the Word of God, “Don’t mourn or weep on such as
day as this! For today is a sacred day
before the Lord your God.” Then he
continued as we read in verse 10 that instead of mourning and weeping, people
need to celebrate on this sacred day.
Do you realize that God desires and expects you to
celebrate periodically throughout your life?
Remember Kook and the Gang’s #1 hit recording “Celebration” (1980)? Well, perhaps you’re too young. One of the stanzas:
“There’s a party goin’ on right here, a dedication
to last throughout the years. So bring
your good times and your laughter too.
We gonna celebrate and party with you.”
That’s what God expects you to do when it’s time to
celebrate a major accomplishment. Did
you know that God ordained seven feasts/celebrations in the Old Testament? They include Feasts of the Passover,
Unleavened Bread, First Fruits (Pentacost), Trumpets (Rosh Hoshanah), Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur), Tabernacles, and Last Great Day (Hanukkah), all
described in Leviticus 23 and you can read more about these celebrations at http://www.acozy.net/page1/feastsch.htm. When was Jesus’ first miracle performed………at
a wedding party (John 2). God expects
celebrations when you worship (Psalm 150). In fact, just think about all the celebrations
that involve---or should involve---what God ordained---Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving, birthdays! Celebration
also involves sharing such as what Nehemiah wrote---share gifts of food with
people who have nothing prepared. That’s
what we do when we invite family and friends over to our homes, we share what food
we have prepared for them and people celebrate whenever we eat!
Nehemiah commanded that his people are not to be
dejected or sad. Why? Because being dejected and sad are signs of
weakness. What strength comes out of
dejection/depression and sadness? It’s true that our
best life is lived when we are happy and uplifting. A life of sorrow and depression is not a good
life at all; who could ever argue sorrow and depression defines a good
life? That is not the life of a believer
and follower of the Lord. It is His joy
that gives you strength. His joy gives
you strength because His joy is filled with salvation, faithfulness, hope, and
the will to face whatever happens in your life.
When you are hit with something bad in life, what do you lean on? The joy of the Lord, His strength and power
to carry you through the bad time(s).
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