Wilderness Wanderings

The king said to me, "What is it you want?"  Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king… (Nehemiah 2:4-5a)   Not all prayers are long and eloquent.  This second prayer of Nehemiah's certainly wasn't.  Now, I suppose it is possible that Nehemiah heard the king's question, ran home to get on his knees beside his bed, prayed sincerely for half an hour, then ran back to the palace to...

"And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests" (Nehemiah 2:8). There is much to like and learn in the opening story of Nehemiah 2. We should pay attention to the things it says about God. Perhaps most obviously, it demonstrates God's power: that he is the King over all other kings. King Artaxerxes was the most powerful king of the day in the ancient Near East. Bu...

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not loo...

"They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name" (Nehemiah 1:10-11). In Genesis 2, the Lord God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him" (2:18). And befor...

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Matthew 20:1-16 from the New International Version of the Bible. Discussion questions for this message can be found in the bonus content! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube once the live stream is up (10am, Sunday). Or, head to our website to connect with the...

"Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your gr...

Nehemiah prayed to God, "You said, 'If you people are not faithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me, I will bring you back. If you obey my commands, I will gather you together again. I will bring you back from the farthest places on earth. I will bring you to the special place where I have chosen to put my Name.' Lord, they are your people. They serve you. You used yo...

They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:3-4)   Rather than continuing on with the action of Nehemiah's story, I want...

I was the king's wine taster (Nehemiah 1:11). The ending of Nehemiah 1 caught me off guard. I have read it before and I knew that Nehemiah was the king's wine taster. I knew that the wine taster was a very important person in the king's court, most likely responsible for some other very important files. In the Canadian context, Nehemiah would probably hold several significant cabinet posts. While...

The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1:1-2) Many churches across North America are slowly discovering that the number of those who are retu...

Sunday, October 4, 2020 Worship

"The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices… (Ezra 9:1). "Moderation in all things". Many of us know this popular bit of folk wisdom. It is very helpful when it comes to a balanced diet, work versus play, and so on. But it doesn't apply to everything. Hating sin, for example, is somethi...

An Honourable Prayer Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain."  Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Today I want to talk about a guy name...

Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord (Ezra 8:35). Ezra 8 records a second group of exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. On arrival, they have what appears to be an impromptu wor...

Do Not Fear The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in orde...

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel (Ezra 7:10). The book of Ezra began by telling us that God moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, who made provision for the people of Israel to return to Jerusalem. Once there, they were able to begin rebuilding the temple of God with the finances from the royal treas...

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Quiet, Be Still A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so a...

Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy (Ezra 6:16). Today, I want to focus on the last phrase of this text, 'with joy'. The Israelites celebrated the completion of the new temple of God with joy. To fully appreciate this phrase, we need to recall how the nation got here and how they almost missed out on t...

--This devotion appeared originally on the blog "Growing Into Up" by Jennifer Heidinga , who has made it available here with permission and now also as a podcast!-- "The Lord your God is in your midst; he is a warrior who can deliver. He takes great delight in you; he renews you by his love; he shouts for joy over you." (Zephaniah 3:17 NET)   We have had some incredible rainstorms this summer! Sto...

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the...

--This devotion appeared originally on the blog "Growing Into Up" by Jennifer Heidinga , who has made it available here with permission and now also as a podcast!-- But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:22 NIV) Today I came across a file on my cell phone that I had saved there s...

With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: "He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many othe...

--This devotion appeared originally on the blog "Growing Into Up" by Jennifer Heidinga , who has made it available here with permission and now also as a podcast!-- "They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God." (Exodus 29:46) At the start of the book of Exodus the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God rises up...