Day 34
And the
Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed
their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
Nehemiah
9:2
From
time to time we will call a “family meeting.” The point of the meeting is often
the same, regardless of how we define “family.” A family meeting means that there
are things that we need to discuss that are specifically related to the family
unity.
This
is what we see in the book of Nehemiah, a family meeting. No, Nehemiah was not
anti-immigration. This is not why they, “separated themselves from all
foreigners.” Israel has a special relationship with God. On the one hand, they
did represent a geopolitical unity. On the other hand, they were God’s chosen
people. They were a spiritual unity as much as a political unit.
Israel,
despite her special relationship with God, had drifted far from Him. She had
begun to live as she wanted to live and had not done what God had called her to
do. God had moved to convict the people, as a whole, of their need to return to
Him. It was time for them to pull back from everyone and spend some time with
God.
Just
as Israel had to pull back, there are times that the church today needs to pull
back. In the Old Testament, Israel was God’s covenant people. In the New
Testament, the church is God’s covenant people. Israel was far from God, and at
times the church can get far from God. When this happens, we need pull away
from everyone else and make things right; a family meeting of sorts. First
Peter 4:17 reminds us, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household
of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not
obey the gospel of God?”
Take
an honest look at your heart. Find some time to “separate yourself,” and hear
what God is saying.
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