What or who do you fear?
The people of the land had been leveraged against. The leaders before had taxed the people and created an atmosphere of debt and destitute. They cry out to Nehemiah, and he calls for the people to release their debtors and restore their lands and finances so the nation can thrive. Nehemiah doesn’t just lead the people to this, but he lives it out himself, “…Yet for all this I did not request the governor’s food allowance, because the forced labor was heavy on this people.” Nehemiah 5:18
Nehemiah asks the people, “Should you not walk in the fear of God…”. Then he says of himself, “…But I did not do so because of my fear of God.”
Fear of the future, fear of not having, fear of not succeeding, fear of loneliness, fear of failure, fear of what others think of us… these fears can be the leading factor in how we live our lives. These fears will drive us to be self-focused.
But the fear the Lord will drive us to be Him-Focused. Our reverence towards the Lord directly influences how we treat and love others. As we seek to honor the Lord, we will honor others and in doing so God will get the glory. Who or what will you choose to fear? May we have fear (reverence) of the Lord and not allow other fears to be the driver in our lives. May we be able to pray, “Remember me, my God, for good, in return for all that I have done for this people.”
-To Know Jesus. To Live on Mission.