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Ezra and Nehemiah, September 19
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the
sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah,
which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites
that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto
the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept,
when they heard the words of the law.
Nehemiah 8:8, 9
.
Nehemiah and Ezra are men of opportunity. The Lord had a special work
for them to do. They were to call upon the people to consider their ways,
and to see where they had made their mistake; for the Lord had not suffered
His people to become powerless and confused and to be taken into captivity
without a cause. The Lord especially blessed these men for standing up for
the right. Nehemiah was not set apart as a priest or a prophet, but the Lord
used him to do a special work. He was chosen as a leader of the people. But
his fidelity to God did not depend upon his position.
The Lord will not allow His work to be hindered, even though the work-
men may prove unworthy. God has men in reserve, prepared to meet the
demand, that His work may be preserved from all contaminating influences.
God will be honored and glorified. When the divine Spirit impresses the mind
of the man appointed by God as fit for the work, he responds, saying, “Here
am I; send me.”
God demonstrated to the people for whom He had done so much that He
would not serve with their sins. He wrought, not through those who refused
to serve Him with singleness of purpose, who had corrupted their ways before
Him, but through Nehemiah; for he was registered in the books of heaven as
a
man
. God has said, “Them that honour me I will honour” (
1 Samuel 2:30
).
Nehemiah showed himself to be a man whom God could use to put down
false principles and to restore heaven-born principles; and God honored him.
The Lord will use in His work men who are as true as steel to principle, who
will not be swayed by the sophistries of those who have lost their spiritual
eyesight.—
The Review and Herald, May 2, 1899
.
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