Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
The much anticipated day had arrived after long preparation. Nehemiah had been back in Jerusalem for several months making repairs and restoring the government. People moved back home to inhabit the lands and houses of their ancestors after spending several decades as foreigners in Babylon. Finally the day came to assemble in the square to hear Ezra the priest read the precious words of God as recorded by Moses in the Book of the Law.
Ezra opened the book and praised the Lord, the great God. All the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:5-6).
But as the day progressed and the meaning of the words sank in, the people began to weep. How far they had strayed from these beautiful words of truth. Could they ever return to the harmonious way of life suggested in these commandments that welcomed the habitation of a holy God among them?
Then Nehemiah the governor spoke up. He told the people to celebrate, to share, and to find joy in the Lord. The joy is where their strength would come from. The joy would restore their souls and invite God’s presence among them.
In his book, Nearing Home, Billy Graham writes about the headline of an article that appeared in 2010 on a Tokyo website titled, “A robot suit that gives super strength to the elderly.” Included with the article was a picture of the power suit modeled not by a senior adult but by an athletic youth. The caption stated that the heavy-duty suit weighs sixty-six pounds and will be originally priced at 1 million yen (approximately $12,000). Billy writes that he asked himself, “How many people my age (he was 93 at the time) have the strength to carry around sixty-six pounds for an hour, much less all day, and who could possibly afford such an expense? He says that he was relieved that the article indicated that there were no plans to sell the suits overseas. Billy writes that he is content struggling to get his shoes on each morning.
Billy went on to say that he had to look carefully at the article to discern just how an exoskeleton suit made of metal and plastic could give any strength. The secret was not in the suit but in the eight electric motors and sensors responding to commands through a voice-recognition system, enabling the body to lift and bend without strain to the muscles. While this futuristic invention may never be seen in our department stores, the brainstorming behind it reveals man’s desire for strength and power beyond himself.
Nehemiah had a better idea for finding that strength beyond ourselves. Instead of wearing a heavy suit that costs too much money and relies on motors and sensors, why not look to the Lord for power?
He encourages the people to do this on the day of the reading of the Law. His words are, “This day is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The day of the reading of the Law was an occasion on which the people were especially to recall God’s past acts of grace and salvation. It deserved celebration, not because of the circumstances the people were in of remembering the wrongs of the past or rebuilding a destroyed hometown, but because of who God was. He gave them protection. He kept his promises. He stayed faithful.
God’s abundance and blessing are the source of true and lasting joy. Nehemiah encouraged the people to rejoice in him, to praise him, and to depend on him. We must do the same. This is the secret to keeping that flame of contentment and pleasure in who God is alive in our hearts.
Joy is a glorious, unending circle. We recognize our needs and weaknesses and look to God. He supplies graciously and generously until his provisions fill our lives and overflow into the lives of others. We can rest in his strength. He helps us when we are weak. He promises to uphold us, to strengthen and protect us.
Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:6-7
