Nehemiah 13:10,11
‘I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered them together and stationed them at their posts.’
Norms are being established. The temple was destroyed some eighty years ago. It’s now rebuilt. The Levites and the singers had a job to do. Money, food and resources were to be given them as pay for their service. That hadn’t been done, so they left to till the land and grow their own food to live on.
Did the officials not know this or did they ignore it? We don’t know. Nehemiah reprimands them and goes about putting them at their posts. They now have a functioning temple. It must have been nice to walk past it and hear the music coming from the temple.
Are there areas of our lives in which we are neglecting things? They could be spiritual, about our property, it may a relationship or possibly about our job. We might be ignorant of it or we may be intentionally negligent.
None of us are perfect, so we all may have areas to tighten up. There may be areas where we are being disobedient. There is a list of things that christian adults are to do: work hard, love our spouses and children, serve God, tithe, be a good steward to the things God has given us, take care of our health, maintain good relationships on many levels, share Christ and be a good witness and so on.
God will point out areas where we are lacking. It may be areas of sin or simply areas where we need to grow. Philippians 3:15 shows us that God will point things out to those who are mature, “All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.” God also communicates things to those who aren’t mature. However, their sensitivity to God might not be where it should be. Jesus called it having ears to hear. Not all of us are listening. Our hearts may be hard.
Lord, may we have ears to hear. May we be maintaining all areas of our lives.