I’ve been reading through Nehemiah just recently. A part of it stood out to me, which I will share here.
To set the stage, the Israelites had been taken into exile.
During the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, the Israelites had been returning to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple and the city walls had been taking place. Then in Nehemiah 13:4-9 the following happens.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.
Nehemiah didn’t mess about. He threw Tobiah out along with his possessions. After all, this was a room that was meant for God’s purposes and not to be lived in.
But how did Tobiah get to be living in the room in the first place?
The Israelites were taken into exile and the articles that was in the room were carried away in the process. Hence the room was left empty.
Could it be that Eliashib saw an empty room and also saw that Tobiah needed somewhere to live?
Could he have then put the two together and allowed Tobiah to live where he shouldn’t have? After all, it’s only an empty room, not being used?
But the room was meant for a different purpose.
When Nehemiah saw what was happening, he knew what was happening and what should have been happening. He served an eviction notice to Tobiah and purified the room, and then restored the room to its intended purpose.
It made me think, are there things in our lives that are meant for God’s purposes but we didn’t know what they were. To us, it was effectively an empty room, that we have then made use of for our own benefit?
Have we then come to like the use of the so called empty room and what we have done with it?
But is it in line with God’s purposes?
Are there area’s in our lives where we need to serve an eviction notice so that God’s purpose can then be realised in our lives?
As I said, it made me think.
To give something up that is useful to us can be difficult. “Look, this is useful” we can say, and there can be a truth to such a statement.
But is there a better use for …… ?
Are we willing to hear what Our Lord God will say to us if He tries to serve an eviction notice on …… ?
We might not like it when we get served an eviction notice on something, but what matters more to us?
Our own agenda or Our Lord God’s?
Will we be willing to follow His prompting when He asks us to hand …… over to Him?
Will we allow Him to clear out the clutter and then wait to see what He will do with the space?
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Wannabe Christian Doorman 