Transforming Society: The High Cost Of Leaving God “You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him.” Leviticus 19:13 Nehemiah 5:1-5 If anyone doubts the relevance of God’s Word to today, all that person needs to do is read Nehemiah 5. Even as Jerusalem was being rebuilt and the Israelites were reestablishing themselves in their land, serious conflicts arose that were tearing the community apart. As we’ll learn, the problems revolved primarily around money. The people were giving their time to build the walls, which meant they didn’t have the normal opportunities to earn a living. Some families didn’t have enough food to eat. So the first problem was poverty. The Bible is clear that the poor are to be taken care of, but these people were being exploited. The second problem is in verse 3. Other Jews had property, but they had to mortgage it to survive. They had to but the right to exist by taking things that they had worked hard for and using them as collateral to buy food. So the community was also facing the problem of growing debt. The third problem was the taxes imposed by the Persian government (vv. 4-5), which the people had to borrow money to pay. You know you’re in trouble when you have to borrow to pay taxes. Why were the Israelites returning with Nehemiah for exile in this mess? Why were they being choked to death economically by poverty, debt, famine, and high taxes? Because they had left God in the first place. You can’t always see the roots of a community’s problem just by looking at the immediate circumstances. Israel’s problems went way back. If the people had not forsaken and disobeyed God, they would not have been in Persia, and they would not be dealing with the king’s taxes. If the Israelites had not left God, they would not have been a debtor community but a loaner community. If they had not left God, the poor of Jerusalem would have been taken care of. You’ve got to go back and straighten out spiritual things first. When you see an economically depreciating community, you know something is wrong spiritually because God promises to meet the needs of His people. This dynamic works in individual families too. If you’re struggling, don’t overlook the possibility that something may need to be dealt with spiritually. Posted by David Coleman of The DC Ministry “Sharing The Gospel.”
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:35:51 +0000
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