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HINDRANCES AND CHALLENGES TO SERVICE (I)
LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 1 EVENING
Nehemiah 5:1-5

Acts 6:1-7

 

“…when the number of
the disciples was multiplied,

there arose a murmuring…”

 

HINDRANCES AND CHALLENGES TO SERVICE (I)
 
In the service of the LORD, prayerfulness, diligence and watchfulness are necessary. Nehemiah 5 presents to us the scope of our watchfulness in the service of God. Nehemiah and the people had succeeded in making progress in the work despite the mockings and threats of the enemy from without. Nehemiah 5 reveals another enemy, one who was more often very successful in hindering the work, namely the enemy within. As they watched against Sanballat and his coalition, they forgot to watch against their own hearts and the deceitfulness of the sinful self.
 
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews (Neh 5:1). The work was great, and the people were organised to ensure efficiency and good progress. The organisation of the work would thus require others to take up responsibilities and duties. However, those who were given the responsibility abused it and started oppressing their brethren. People had responded to the call and came to work and serve irrespective of their economic or social status. Just as how God has brought us together in church today and made us one body of Christ though we come from different walks of life. In the workforce were men of all classes and there were those who had many mouths to feed (Neh 5:2), those who had mortgaged their property (Neh 5:3), those who had borrowed (Neh 5:4) and those who took advantage of others.
 
The nature and intensity of the work with people working from dawn to dusk brought with it other challenges. People sacrificed all to work meaning that they probably had no time to tend to their farms or find other ways of sustaining themselves. The result was an increasing number of people who would become dependent. Others who were wealthier became opportunists and set out to both oppress and take advantage of their brethren in their distress. They shared the same cause, they were of the same family and religion, they were brethren, yet, their selfishness made all of this inconsequential. They cared not about the plight of their brethren, but only about their own profit and gain.
 
THOUGHT: (Read Proverbs 4:23.)

PRAYER: (Use Psalm 119:35-36.)

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