We Are The People

Neh 5:11-13 “Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”
12 So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.”
Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. 13 Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.”
And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.”

Nehemiah was not luke-warm nor was he half-hearted. He was all-in when it came to the Divine will being done on earth as it is in heaven. There was no mistaking the seriousness of the Prophet’s words. He spoke with authority – “What you are doing is wrong and unacceptable to God and to me.”
Nehemiah’s words were to the leaders (nobles and rulers) and the religious leaders, the priests. Equipped with a word from heaven the man of God spoke words that got the attention of all – “We will restore”, they all said. The prophet then illustrated, by the shaking out of the fold in his garment, what would be the result if they failed to do as they made their pledge. The disobedient would be removed from their house and land.
Pray today that God will raise up men and women with a biblical voice of authority that will bring godly fear into the hearts of both public and religious leaders in America today. It seems the serious and thorough mandate brought a change of heart that would ultimately focus people’s attention on God’s Work in that day. Pray also that pride and stubbornness be broken in the lives of leaders in America which will make way for them to not only agree that God’s ways are best, but that they will also do the work they commit to from their heart. This caused great rejoicing in Nehemiah’s day and it will also have the same effect today.