Wait On The Lord

This morning my reading was in Nehemiah.  One thing I really appreciate about reading through the Bible every year is how something different always jumps out at me.  

Today I wondered about the months.  Hanani came to visit Nehemiah in the month Chislev and told him of the sorry condition of the people of Judah and the destruction of the wall around Jerusalem.  The scripture says that Nehemiah was completely cast down by the news.  He was grieving and praying.  

Reading on we see that Nehemiah had the important job of cupbearer to the king.  He went to serve the king his wine in the month Nisan.  The king noticed his sadness and questioned him.

I expect that all of those who are reading this are familiar with the story.  I began to wonder just how far apart Chislev and Nisan are.  In all my readings of this book I never really thought about the time.

I looked it up and found that Chislev is the ninth month of twelve in the ancient Hebrew calendar.  Nisan is the first month.  Nehemiah waited FOUR months before appealing to the king.  Why?

He spent his time in weeping, mourning, fasting and praying.  He was waiting on the guidance of the Lord.  I can imagine him grieving and trying to figure out what he could do.  When he finally did talk to the king, he had a clear plan ready to present.  He said the hand of his God was on him for favor.  

How often do we rush ahead without waiting on the Lord?  That doesn't work out very well.  Consider when Saul got impatient for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice to the Lord.  He got tired of waiting and offered the sacrifice himself.  Nothing good came from that.  

Nehemiah was highly successful at the task he was given.  He succeeded against terrible odds in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.  He did not let anything get in the way of doing his job.  I believe that his time of waiting on the Lord was the reason for his success. 

No matter how difficult it may be, wait on the Lord, but don't wait without weeping, mourning, fasting and praying.  

NEHUSHTAN

Most of you probably remember the story of the fiery serpents which came among the Israelites as they were wandering in the wilderness.  They had been grumbling and complaining (as usual) and God sent the serpents to bite them.  Many of the people died from the snakebites.  That made the people think and they repented and asked Moses to beg God for help.  

God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it up on a pole.  If anyone was bitten by one of the snakes, he could look at the bronze serpent and be saved.  

Now fast forward hundreds of years.  The Israelites have lived in the land for a long time.  The kingdom has been divided and Israel has gone into captivity because of their faithlessness and disobedience.  Judah is still in the land but they have had their ups and downs.

Currently the king is Hezekiah.  He was zealous for God and strove to bring the people back to faithfulness.  The people had been worshipping many false gods for many years.  Even since the time of Solomon.  The land was filled with idols.  Hezekiah destroyed them all.  

This is the part I want you to notice:   He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 2 Kings 18:4 (ESV)

The bronze serpent that Moses had made at God's command so many years before had been kept and had become a snare.  The people were worshipping the means God provided, instead of the God who saved them.  Hezekiah destroyed it.

As I was thinking about this earlier today I thought of Jesus who was lifted up on the cross.  Just like the bronze serpent, those who are bitten by the lies of Satan can look to the one on the cross and be saved.  But unlike the bronze serpent, the one on that cross was God himself and we are to worship Him.  

Scripture tells us that a lot of people died from those snake bites.  I don't know if any died because they refused to look at the bronze serpent, but many die now because they refuse to look to the man who was God and who died on that cross.