Saturday... God honors those who work hard.

Saturday... God honors those who work hard. He really does.

There is a statement that caught my attention as I was reading Nehemiah 3 this morning. In verse 5 (MSG) it says, "except for their nobles, who wouldn't work with their master and refused to get their hands dirty with such work." I wonder why that was put in the Bible?

The book of Nehemiah is about the building of the wall of Jerusalem that had been torn down and of the people who set out to repair it. And it mentions sections of the wall and who the individuals were doing the work. They were mentioned by name. God wanted us to know about these people who were hard workers. They even were having to be on guard because there were people who didn't want the wall to be repaired. Verse 3 is an example, "The Fish Gate was built by the Hassenaah brothers; they repaired it, hung its doors, and installed its bolts and bars." God thought that was important for us to know.

Now this whole chapter goes over and over telling us of these hard working people. Verse 5 in the NIV translation says, "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to work under their supervisors." It doesn't tell why but does tells what. And that was important for us to know.

Work is God's plan. It is the way he gets things done. It's amazing what can get done when people work together. But there is always someone who for some reason sits down and just doesn't do their part. And know this, God notices. He even wrote about it in the Bible. 

So what kind of worker are you? One of the important things that I learned from my dad and mom was to be a hard worker. Whatever I was doing, I was to give my all to doing it. And God honors that. My parents didn't give me any big inheritance but they did give me an example of being hard workers.

Some people sit by the side and say, God will provide and he will but he does it most of the time by providing opportunities and then we must get out and do the work.  

Now this pandemic has a part for us all to fill. Do you wear a mask, do you distance yourself, do you wash your hands? We each have a part to fulfill in protecting ourselves and those around us. But some say, but God will provide and yes he does, he provides us opportunities to help in getting this under control. And we as Christ-followers must do our part. 

That's just an example of what I think this verse is dealing with. Those people in verse 5 weren't great examples were they? But we can be. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning