SPEAKER_00: Good morning and welcome to your daily walk.
SPEAKER_00: This is Dan.
SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah chapter 11 is about repopulating Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The walls had just been rebuilt, but the city was mostly empty.
SPEAKER_00: So a lottery was set up to move 10% of families from surrounding towns to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Think of it as a draft.
SPEAKER_00: But why in the world was this draft needed?
SPEAKER_00: Well, imagine someone asked you and your family to move to a city that lay in ruins and offered little in the way of economic opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: And then you'll get the idea.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the majority of Israelites lived in other towns.
SPEAKER_00: And up until the time the wall was rebuilt, the city was defenseless.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of names are mentioned in chapter 11, which shows that God cares about individuals who quietly work hard to build his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is that while the lottery forced 10% of the population to move, verses 1 and 2 talk about some people who willingly volunteered to move into the city.
SPEAKER_00: These folks were greatly respected in the community.
SPEAKER_00: God must have been pleased too at their willingness to sacrifice their personal comfort to repopulate Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And it reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15, 58, which says, always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The text mentions that the leaders settled in Jerusalem first.
SPEAKER_00: There's a spiritual lesson here that teaches if you're going to be a leader, sometimes you're asked to do the hard things to the point of modeling the sacrifice you ask others to make.
SPEAKER_00: When you do this, though, people are much more willing to follow your lead.
SPEAKER_00: Also, Nehemiah 11 lists a large variety of workers needed for maintaining Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: These included warriors, priests, gatekeepers, singers, and supervisors.
SPEAKER_00: It was vital that people use their skills and their diversity of spiritual gifts in the everyday goings-on of the city.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a pretty convicting chapter when you think about it.
SPEAKER_00: After all, how far does our willingness go when it comes to doing hard things for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Even giving up our creature comforts for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.