Nehemiah 8:1-10; Luke 4:14-21 vs. 10

"This day is sacred
to our Lord.
Do not grieve,
for the joy of the Lord
is your strength."
.

..
The joy of your Lord is your strength.

I am not quite sure we relate joy with power. Ask someone what makes the United States a powerful nation.  I am not sure you would get for an answer, ‘the joy of the Lord.’  I would venture to guess that most people would say the US is powerful because of it’s military, it’s economy, it’s freedoms, and up until this past November it’s election process, although some people would disagree with the latter.

Is it possible that we don’t find much strength in the joy of the Lord because we don’t find much joy in the Lord?  I dare say some people find as much joy in the Lord as they found in last night’s snow storm which is basically none.

This was the case with regards to the Israelites who had gathered to hear Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God.  It is important to remember that this group of Israelites had returned from exile some seventy years earlier.  They had been allowed to return to rebuild the temple.  Yet when Nehemiah arrived he found that the walls of the city and the lives of the people were still broken.

Nehemiah responded by gathering the people together to hear Ezra, the priest read God’s law.  What happened is what every preacher dreams of.  They listened attentively.  How do I know this, look at verse 9.

Then Nehemiah 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.

They wept, why?  Because they realized how far they were from God.  They realized how sinful their lives were.  They realized how far away they were from obeying the Law of God. They were focusing all their life on themselves and not knowing God.

Too many people are satisfied with looking at and knowing about God, instead of being with and knowing God.  I remembering being asked to do a funeral for someone I knew nothing about.  One of his family members told me he was sort of a world traveler.  When I asked what countries he had been to.  I was told that he never left the states.  I thought to myself, how can one be a world traveler without every leaving the states?  I guess the look on my face caused the person I was talking to say that he traveled around the world by watching the travel channel and by reading National Geographic.

That would be like saying: you were at the inauguration yesterday because you watched it on TV; or you are going to the super bowl next Sunday, because you plan to watch the game on a big screen TV at a friends house.

It would be like me saying last year at this time, I had been to the Holy Land because I read about them in the Bible.  It was only after going to Israel last Fall that I can say I have been to the Holy Land.

Up until then I was the child standing outside and peering into the candy store through the store window.  Sure the child tells you about all the kinds of candy that the store had.  He could describe the size and shape.  Whether it was milk chocolate or dark.  As the door to the store opened and closed the child could probably tell you what it smelled like.  Why he could even learn what the candy tasted like by asking someone eating a piece as they came out of the store.  But would you say that the boy knew what candy tasted like.  Of course not, the only way he could do that is by going inside and eating a piece.

This is so true when it comes to God.  We must not be satisfied with knowing about God. We must enter into his presence on a daily basis.  The Psalmist so accurately said,

Don’t take his word for it.  Don’t take my word for it.  Experience it yourself.  Each day enter into His presence in prayer.  Enter into His presence by reading a passage of scripture.  Enter into His presence and be still.

We must constantly check our lives, our behavior against the Word of God.  Like the Israelites the Word of God my cause us grief because it will point out to us our sinfulness. But as Nehemiah said to the Israelites, I say to you,

When Jesus returned from His forty days in the wilderness He read in the temple from the prophecy of Isaiah,

He wasn’t reading some distant prophecy he was proclaiming as He said,

The rest of the gospel of Luke is proof that what Jesus said in the temple was indeed true. It is a gospel filled with stories of Jesus seeking the lost, confronting and comforting people with the love and grace of God. Entering into their lives with a message of tremendous hope and promise.

Should you and I expect any less?

TODAY, any and all of God’s Word can be fulfilled in your life.

Like the Israelites who gather to hear the Word of the Law of God be read:

Listen attentively to the Word of God.

Ask yourself, How does this apply to me, to my life?

Let the power of God’s Word, a message of hope, unconditional love , deliverance, justice and peace change your life, so that you may not just know about the joy of the Lord, but KNOW the joy of the Lord.  So that

"The joy of the Lord
will be your strength."

AMEN

Reverend Richard Hayes Weyer

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Our thanks to the for the Hymn
"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"