Our strength

[Nehemiah 8:9-12]

It is said that there is no mysterious insect like an ant among insects with life.  Have you ever seen an ant dragging prey many times larger than itself with its small body?  An observer who was watching an ant dragging a dead locust weighed the ant and found that the ant was dragging 60 times more weight than itself.  How can the ant do something like that?  That ability is a wonderful gift that God gave to creation (Internet).  Proverbs 6:6 tells us: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”  How do we compare ants to us?  We humans are gifted with greater strength and abilities than ants.  That is why Paul confessed, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).  But too many of us, Christians, live a powerless life.  ‘I can do all things in the Lord who gives me strength’ is a verse in the Bible, but in our lives we are denying that truth.  That is why words such as “I can’t do it” and “I think it will be difficult” come out of our mouths more easily than “I can do it”.  Or there is a lot of unbelief in denying the power of the Lord.  It seems that we are living a very pessimistic life while denying the power of faith and godliness.  We waste by failing to use the Lord's full supply of power.  What should we do about this problem?  How can we live a life of faith and strength?  Today's text Nehemiah 8:10 gives the answer.  It tells us the answer to how we can lead a powerful life of faith.  It is none other than to rejoice in the Lord.

Our strength is to rejoice in the Lord.

Look at Nehemiah 8:10b – “…  This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Then, how can we rejoice in the Lord?  We can think of it in three ways.

• In order to rejoice in the Lord, we must not be sad and not cry.

Look at Nehemiah 8:9 – “Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.”  When the Israelites heard the law of Moses through the scholar Ezra and realized the law through the Levites, their sins were revealed and they could not help but shed tears of repentance.  In other words, they wept because there was a conviction of sins through the law.  Ezra also shed these tears.  Look at Ezra 10:1 – “While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites--men, women and children--gathered around him.  They too wept bitterly.”  In this way, while the Israelites were weeping because of the conviction of their sins, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites who taught the people exhorted the Israelites not to mourn and weep because it was God's holy day.  In modern terms, when the congregation heard the word of God through the pastor and Bible study teachers and realized their sins and shed tears of repentance, the pastor, elders, and teachers said, 'Today is the Lord’s day.  Do not weep in sorrow'.

Tears are drying up in the eyes of our Christians.  The reason is because we are not aware of our sins through the Word.  In other words, we do not realize our sins well because we do not diligently reflect ourselves in the spiritual mirror, the Word of God.  Also, it seems that we mistakenly feel even the need for repentance because our spiritual eyes are so darkened that we cannot see our own ugliness even when we look in the spiritual mirror.  If this is true, how are we to interpret the shedding of tears during sermons in the church? Unfortunately, we can make our meeting-goers weep with psychological techniques.  Many preachers use the technique of psychological manipulation without any knowledge that they are doing so.  It is true that there is a satisfying feeling when a powerful wave of emotion engulfs the entire congregation.  We will feel successful when we make people cry.  This is because we are more concerned with visible results than with inner awakenings (White).  Many times we preachers are more concerned about the visible result of the tears than the inner awakening of the saints.  In other words, there are plenty of times when the tears we shed are emotions caused by the psychological manipulation of the preachers rather than tears of repentance due to the awareness of sin as we listen to the Word.  The shedding of tears does not mean that an inner awakening is taking place.  Tears may have nothing to do with the inner awakening of a soul at all.  So, the prophet Joel says in Joel 2:12-13a: “’Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’  Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, ….”  But are tears of repentance and sorrow for sin really our strength?  The answer is “no”.  The Bible does not say that tears of repentance are our strength.  In other words, it is not our strength to come up to the Lord's house on Sunday, the Lord's day, to realize our sins and repent through the Word of God.

• In order to rejoice in the Lord, we must not be sorrowful.

Look at Nehemiah 8:10b, 11b: “… This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.  …  Be still, for this is a sacred day.  Do not grieve.”  Why were the Israelites gathered at the Water Gate Square worried?  The reason the Israelites were grieved was because they had not properly served the Lord for a long time, not knowing what pleased and displeased God (Packer).  When we look back on our lives, we may think of our sins of not serving God rightly like the Israelites.  'If I had done that at that time, God would have been pleased...' ' etc.  As we look back on our life, we may see many “gaps”.  We may think of things we have said or done unwisely.  Lack of love can also feel a lot.  When we are immersed in these thoughts, our heart cannot be happy.  Or we may become discouraged with ourselves and lose our strength.  How about you?  As you look back on your life, do you have the same sorrow over your sins as the Israelites did?  Among the writings written by a man named Man-je Jo, there is ‘The wisdom to overcome worry’ (Internet): ‘As Shakespeare emphasized that sorrow is the enemy of life, a person cannot be happy and cannot have joy as long as worry persists.  Worry hinders health, shortens life, and makes humans unable to concentrate on new creative work. …  Even the well-known Aesop said, ‘A piece of bread eaten in peace is better than a feast eaten in sorrow.’  I agree.  Worry makes us more vulnerable than it gives us strength.  So, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites who taught the people told the weeping Israelites, “Do not mourn or weep” (v. 9) and “Do not grieve” (v. 10).  The reason is, imagine how tired the Israelites would be when they imagined standing there crying and worrying for hours.  And another reason is because the day they were weeping and grieved was the sacred day of the Lord (v. 10).  Reminds me of the well-known gospel song “This is the day that the Lord has made”: “This is the day, this is the day That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice, I will rejoice And be glad in it, and be glad in it.”  As we come up to the Lord's house and worship on Sundays, we can and should be sorrowful because our sins are exposed before God's holy presence.  But even this sorrowful cannot be our strength.

• In order to rejoice in the Lord, we must understand the Word of God.

Look at Nehemiah 8:12 – “Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.”  When the Israelites listened to the advice of Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites, who made them understand the Mosaic Law, their tears and sorrow ceased, and they rejoiced greatly.  The reason is because the Israelites clearly understood the words they had heard (v. 12).  In other words, it was the clear knowledge of the Law of Moses that made the Israelites' sorrow, tears, and anxiety disappear.  The Mosaic Law makes us realize our sins, bringing us tears and sorrow of repentance (Rom. 3:20).  They came to know clearly that they could not be saved by the Mosaic Law.  Here we must listen to Galatians 3:24 – “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.”  The Mosaic law gives us a sense of sin, that is, realizes sin, but it cannot save us.  However, the Law of Moses points to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24).  In other words, through the Mosaic Law, you will realize your sins, and you will be justified through faith in Jesus Christ, whom the Mosaic Law points to. The Israelites, who clearly understood this truth, stopped their sorrow, tears, and sorrow and rejoiced greatly.  The reality of many of us Christians is that there are not many people who are in tears and sorrow while repenting of their sins because their hearts are pricked by listening to the word of God.  We need to go one step further in this stage, but we are not able to do so.  In other words, the stage of repentance of hearing the Word and realizing sin is the beginning stage, not the final stage.  The final stage indicated by God's Word is Jesus Christ.  In other words, the forgiveness of sins and salvation in Jesus Christ.  Like the Israelites, believers who clearly know the Word of God look to Jesus Christ whom the Word of God points to with faith.  Therefore, as they shed tears of repentance by believing in the power of the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ, they enjoy the blessing of peace in which the Lord removes all sorrow and worry from their hearts.

                    The Israelites celebrated the Day of Atonement every year and rejoiced because the Lord had dealt with their sins (Lev. 16) and that they were forgiven.  According to the Jewish calendar, the Feast of Tabernacles comes after the Day of Atonement.  The Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long festival held by God's people (23:26-44).  The order of importance is this: conviction, cleansing, and celebration.  The fact that the Israelites heard and understood the Law of Moses means that there was awareness of sin, cleansing, and festivals.  That is why the Israelites rejoiced greatly (Neh. 8:12).  So, what should we do?

• We must listen to the word of God with a longing heart.

This means that we must be still before God and listen to his words (v. 11).

• We must clearly understand that Word.

We must ask God the Holy Spirit to make us understand the Word of God.  Therefore, we must meet Jesus Christ through the Word of God.  Only Jesus can wipe away the tears of our repentance and remove the anxiety from our hearts.  Only the Lord is our joy.  And rejoicing in Him is the true strength of Christians.

If we look at the book ‘You Must Be Careful When You Have Power’ by Pastor Yeong-jo Ha, Pastor Ha says 4 things about “true power”.  About the fourth of them he said (Internet): ‘Fourth, true strength comes from God.  When we live for the glory of that God, we enjoy Him.  And when we rejoice and be glad in God, we can truly confess what the psalmist said in Psalms 18:1 – “I love you, O LORD, my strength.”