Building on the Foundation

You may have noticed some discussion in the news lately about illegal immigration, and how to enforce immigration laws. Is it appropriate to build walls on the border to keep people out? To search for, arrest, and deport illegal immigrants by any means necessary? Now, I tend not to concern myself much with politics these days, not because I don’t have opinions, but because I don’t believe that politics offers any real or lasting solutions. The only real solution to anyone’s problems is to turn to God, humble oneself before Him, and obey Him. The Bible warns against putting trust in human leaders: “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psa. 146:3-5).  So any nation (or individual) that attempts to fix its problems by political means, without turning to God first, is doome...

  Nehemiah has long been one of my favorite characters in the Bible. His zeal for God, his faith, his courage, and his unwavering devotion to God’s way of life take a back seat to no one, save Jesus Christ. As we read through the Book of Nehemiah, written in the man’s own words, his zeal and passion for Almighty God fairly leap from the pages! Now according to the Hebrew lexicons, Nehemiah’s name means “YHWH comforts,” and his father’s name, Hachaliah, means “YHWH enlightens.” Both names define Nehemiah’s mission, as we’ll soon see. God enlightened Nehemiah and guided him, just as He does for each one of us if we put our faith and trust in Him. And God sent Nehemiah on a mission of comfort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, to bring justice for the poor and oppressed, to restore Godly worship among the people of Judah, and to teach them to put their faith and trust in the God of their fathers. Nehemiah wrote most of the book in the first person, much like Ezekiel and some of the ot...