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PERSPECTIVES FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVICE (XIII)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Nehemiah 7:5-7

Ezra 2:1-2

 

“…that they might be

reckoned by genealogy.”

 

PERSPECTIVES FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVICE (XIII)
 
This is the second section in Nehemiah that gives a list of names. In the first list of names in Nehemiah 3, it was a record of the people who rose up to work trusting in God to prosper the work. This second list gives the names of the people who rose up to return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity. Both lists give the names of people who rose up to fulfil God’s plan, whether it was the rebuilding of Jerusalem, or the return to Jerusalem. In both cases, it was God’s will and a step in God’s plan for the redemption of man.
 
And my God put into mine heart (Neh 7:5). It was of God, and by His providence, that led Nehemiah to do this work, seeing “the city was large and great: but the people were few therein” (Neh 7:4). God stirred his spirit and led him to seek and find “a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first” (Neh 7:5). Since the safety of the city would be the duty of every member of the city, preserving the city would require populating it. When the city would be adequately inhabited was a question that Nehemiah could not answer. The register of genealogy of those who came up out of the captivity and returned to inhabit Jerusalem was a testimony that God would faithfully accomplish His will and plan for His people.
 
And found written therein (Neh 7:5). The list of names was a testament to God and His providential workings, ruling over the hearts of men, including kings, that indeed “the king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will” (Prov 21:1). He had, as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah, moved the heart of Cyrus to make a proclamation for the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem as recorded in Ezra 1:1-4. It was also a testimony of God’s providential moving and leading of those who rose up and returned: “them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:5). Indeed, though the city had few inhabitants, it shall be filled (Zech 2:4).
 
THOUGHT: God is faithful to protect His children and fulfil His will.

PRAYER: (Use 1 Chronicles 4:10.)

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