WHAT’s the ANSWER? – BE GLAD!

“Today is a holy day for the Lord. Don't be sad because the joy you have in the LORD is your strength.”         (Nehemiah 8:10 – God’s Word©)

 

If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, then you have probably figured out that Nehemiah 8:10 is one of my favorite go-to scriptures.  Therefore, it only made sense that as I began to pray over the quickly approaching New Year and the theme of today’s end-of-the-year blog post, that I would naturally consider taking a peek at this particular verse!  Even before I got out of bed this morning, this verse popped into my mind and I began to formulate what I thought to be some God inspired thoughts for it.

As I read from Nehemiah chapter eight, I suddenly realized that the returning Israeli refugees were facing many of the same dilemmas that you and I are most likely considering today.  These individuals who were tasked with the rebuilding of the city wall, following their vanquish and Babylonian captivity, stood in shock when they entered their holy city of Jerusalem.  You can quickly pick up the sense that these people were devastated by what they saw.  The sight before them had to be a lot worse than what they had pictured before actually setting their eyes on the piles of destruction everywhere they turned.

I couldn’t help but think that in many ways, the sense of hopelessness, despair, frustration and thoughts of giving up could be likened to those of many conservative Christians today in our country.  All one has to do is to look at the news reports to read about the conflicting scenarios on the status of the world-wide effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and what might become a new administration that is already predicting dire situations ahead, describing what they believe to be the need for more rules and regulations, shutdowns and the like, all while predicting their discouraging thoughts on how 2021 will be worse than the current year.

When Nehemiah and Ezra the priest saw the despair on the faces of the people, they immediately knew the answer and began to read to them from the sacred writings.  They had the good sense to replace the voices of FEAR with the encouraging TRUTH of the Word of God!  They immediately rerouted the picture of hopelessness that was being painted in their minds with the life-giving, impossibility to possibility making power of God’s Word… and then in the midst of all this emotion… they had the audacity to tell the people to NOT BE SAD, but instead to BE GLAD!

The word that is translated as “SAD” or “neither be ye sorry” in the King James Version, means “to fabricate or fashion something into a bad sense.”  It also has the connotation of “to forcibly pull something from a person’s grip.”*  That something being an individual’s hope, their faith and/or their confidence.  From my point of view, most of what the general public heard last year online, on TV or in the printed page was deceptively crafted with this idea… with the results being the current confusion and unrest with our American election process.

I can just imagine the look on the people’s faces when their two leaders encouraged them to BE GLAD in the midst of all the YUCK they saw around them… probably thinking, “How can I BE GLAD when reality is telling me to feel awful, throw away my hope and have a grand old pity party?”  Mind you… I speak from experience here because I have felt the same thing a time or two in similar circumstances… when things didn’t look too rosy… but Piper always encouraged me with the Word of God… and stuck to it… along with her big smile, sweet disposition and maybe a tickle or two.

Piper did the same thing that Nehemiah and Ezra did!  She turned my attention from the problem at hand to the definitive ANSWER found in God’s Word!  And let me tell you… once you are able to see God’s TRUTH as THE truth and THE reality on the matter… then you can’t help but BE GLAD!

According to verses eleven and twelve in the same chapter in Nehemiah… it worked quite effectively. As the writer explained, “So the Levites (the priestly class assisting Ezra) calmed all the people by saying, ‘Listen. Today is a holy day. Don't be sad.’  Then all the people went to eat and drink and to send portions. (and) They had a big, joyful celebration because they understood the words that had been explained to them.” (God’s Word ©)

Well… with this example in mind, I can’t help but think of a better scripture promise and TRUTH for each of us to keep in our back pocket (or maybe better, in our hearts!) as we enter the New Year in a few hours… and then keep reminding ourselves of these verses repeatedly throughout the year.

What better way to put one tough year behind us and prepare to step into a NEW YEAR with the promise, expectation and subsequent faith in the TRUTH of GOD’s WORD over everything that the enemy of our faith may try to toss in the pathways of our daily lives in 2021.  This way… You’ve got the answer WELL BEFORE the problem comes along!

I pray that each of you has a wonderful, blessed and ENCOURAGING New Year’s celebration as you step into the blessings that God has in store for you in 2021!

 

*Strong’s and Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions