“Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.” Nehemiah 4:4
June 17, 2024
Like the early settlers in wagon trains headed west, Christians find themselves in a comparable situation. When under attack, circle the wagons. Nehemiah and the Jews, who had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and reestablish God’s witness to His presence in Israel in their land, found themselves under attack from adversarial nations. However, they did not do what some Christians are inclined to do as we are looked upon as being a cult and a threat to the secular religion besieging the church. To begin with, Nehemiah prays an imprecatory prayer, the first of three recorded in Nehemiah (6:14; 13:29). One thing we can do as God’s witness for Christ in this world is to seek God in prayer; “Lord frustrate and turn back their mockery on them. Make their plans fall apart to defeat your people.” Tolerance is the tone of the culture until it comes the intolerance of the proclamation of biblical truth. Christians need to quit smiling at sin and uncircle the wagons. We have the Word of God and a witness for Christ to be given.
H
“Compassion on the sinful is one thing, but never confuse it with tolerance of evil.” Vance Havner