Today's passage is Nehemiah 13:1-14.
In the Book of Moses, they discover that the Ammonites and Moabites are to be excluded, so they exclude all foreigners.
Nehemiah goes back to Bablylon and then returns briefly to find that the priest in charge of the storerooms had given one to Tobiah to keep his personal things in.
Nehemiah gets rid of them and restores purity to the temple, appointing new men in charge. He also learned that the portions had not been given to the Levites and singers. He rebuked the officials. He asks God to remember what he's done for the house of God.
As soon as Nehemiah leaves Jerusalem, things begin to unravel.
Few remain faithful and the leaders go back to selfish living.
That is always a temptation for me too when I leave Wooridle for business trips and family trips.
Always there is the temptation to let things slide, to skip worship in foreign places or neglect my QT.
Always there is the struggle to be faithful to God's house.
There is always a room I give to Tobiah.
It has taken me years and years to become even superficially faithful to the most basic of Christian duties.
Without others reminding me of my responsibility and God blessing me with the grace to do what I say I want to do, I couldn't be faithful in the smallest of things.
I am no Nehemiah. I give a room to Tobiah and count my money, my status, my worldy dreams.
When I went to my school yesterday to bring QTin, I didn't ask for my staff's prayers for my mission trip to Indonesia.
Instead I talked about the long term possibility of a year-round school schedule with shorter breaks to help kids retain what they learn. That was a Tobiah room.
It's more important to keep my staff and students focused on who they are and their purpose in God's creation.
Today I go with a mission team to Indonesia to share the gospel with the people of a village in the middle of a moslem country.
We will help build a church. We hope for the salvation of the people there.
We are going because we love God and want to help build his house.
Please pray for me to have God's heart and mind.
Please pray for me to do my best for God and not give rooms to Tobiah in my heart.
