When the cat's away...

Today's Reading: Nehemiah 13

My daughter recently told me that one day my sweet little grandson was playing nicely in the kitchen. She thought he was being so good because he was quiet and entertaining himself. And then she walked into the kitchen. He was entertaining himself all right…with a bottle of syrup that was now spread all over her kitchen floor. It was a big ol’ sticky mess!

You know that old axiom, right? When the cat’s away, the mice will play! It just seems to be part of human nature.

Nehemiah 13 wraps up our story as Nehemiah institutes some final reforms and enforces God’s law. We find out that Nehemiah has evidently been back in Babylon for some period of time. When he returns to Jerusalem, he finds that the “mice” have been playing! The first thing he finds out is that a storeroom in the Temple has been turned over to Tobiah. Remember Tobiah? He was one of the chief opposition leaders against Nehemiah as the wall was being rebuilt.

Wait, what? One of the opposition leaders is now using a storeroom in the Temple? And he is an Ammonite? What is he doing in the Temple?

Nehemiah’s response is swift and effective as he throws Tobiah and all of his goods out of the Temple. You know, swift and decisive action is often required when dealing with sin. Our only hope of protection from sin is to cut it off quickly. We can’t wallow in it. We can’t consider it. We can’t wait to see what happens. We have to cut it off as soon as it is found.

Nehemiah then learns that the people were conducting business on the Sabbath. They were allowing merchants to come in and sell their food and merchandise. And the Jews were purchasing from them.

Wait again! The Jews are disrespecting God’s holy day? How did they let that happen?

Again, Nehemiah takes swift action as he orders the gates of the city shut at sundown before the Sabbath and he put guards at the gates. Nehemiah even went so far as to tell the merchants who were camping outside the gates to not come again or he “would lay hands on them.” He wanted the Jews to remember this day and to keep it holy as the Lord had commanded.

You know, sometimes we just need to shut the gates. When the enemy is relentless in pursuing us, even in our rest, we may just have to shut the gates. Pull back into our own houses and our own hearts and spend some time with God. We can’t be afraid to shove the enemy out. He will give us lots of reasons why we can’t do it…or why we shouldn’t do it. But we must shove him out or run the risk of being disobedient.

I don’t know about you but I think I’d prefer to stay out of the sticky messes!!

- Holly Barrett