Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT) “ . . . for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
I am sure you have heard this scripture. It’s a popular one. You may have seen it on wall hangings or refrigerator magnets or coffee mugs or the fronts of journals. It’s popular for a reason. It’s encouraging. In a world full of trials and problems, it’s nice to remember that the Lord will give us joy and bring us strength.
I have been familiar with this scripture most of my life. However, when I looked it up a few years ago to find its actual location in the Bible, I was surprised. I assumed this scripture would be in Psalms or Proverbs or the New Testament.
Nope! As you can see, it is located in Nehemiah.
Ezra and Nehemiah are not books we often reference. They were originally together as one book, and then somewhere along the way the books were separated into two books of the Bible. Both books refer to the period when the Israelites were in exile.
Both Ezra and Nehemiah asked the King of Persia to return to Jerusalem. They wanted to teach the people about the Law of God and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Surprisingly, the king of Persia said yes, and not only that, but he said he would send resources to help. So these men returned to Jerusalem to teach the people and rebuild the wall.
After the wall was rebuilt, Ezra and the Levites gathered the people, and the book of the Law of God was read and explained. The people began to weep.
I’m sure that after being a scattered people with no one to lead or guide them in the law of God, to hear it being read and understand how far they had strayed from God pricked their hearts and led them towards repentance, as they finally understood who God was and who God was to them.
How many times has that happened to us? We forget who God is. We allow fear and worry and doubt to be the voices loudest in our heads. We forget how big and mighty and wonderful God is. We forget that all things are in submission to Him, and we have nothing to fear. We forget the promises of our God to never leave us or forsake us.
And sometimes, when we are reminded, we weep in repentance at how far we have wandered away. Just like the Israelites did that day.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with their response. Often when we realize we were in the wrong, we do cry out in repentance, and sometimes that does include weeping.
All of Nehemiah 8:10, which is often not the part on refrigerator magnets, says,
“And Nehemiah continued, ‘Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’”
So why does Nehemiah tell them to stop crying and rejoice? I believe it is because when we remain in the type of repentance that brings sorrow, we continue to make it about us. But God deserves our praise. He deserves our hearts turned away from ourselves and towards Him.
Psalm 100:4 (NLT) “Enter His gates with praise and His courts with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
When we come to God, we need to remember that He deserves all our praise. Sometimes we may repent with sorrow, knowing we have missed the mark, but don’t stay there.
God deserves our hearts of praise. He deserves our gratitude.
If you notice in this scripture, Nehemiah was saying rejoice in the Lord, for this is a sacred day. Their feast and rejoicing were sacred to God. It was a way to worship and honor Him and all He had done for them.
What an amazing God that is. He does not expect us to come back to Him crawling on our knees or require a certain number of hours of feeling sorry before He accepts us back. He wants us to approach Him with a repentant heart and then praise Him.
Repentance essentially means changing the way we think. Change in our thinking that God deserves to be magnified, not our problems.
When we turn our hearts towards Him, we will find that the joy of the Lord is indeed where we find strength!
