Living in 3D: Overcoming Internal Opposition and Injustice, and Being Generous

Passage: Nehemiah 5

Date: Nov 27, 2022

Last week, we saw much opposition coming from external factors. It was Nehemiah's three-dimensional view on life that enabled him to overcome--that is, he did not see his life as being about merely himself (dimension 1) and the situation (dimension 2). Instead, he was more influenced by his "great and awesome God" (dimension 3), which compelled him to be prayerful, confident, and vigilant.

This week, we see that opposition is now coming from within the community. Members of the community were taking advantage of each other during the famine. Nehemiah overcomes this opposition in the same way. His conviction that God is present enables him to confront the issue. The reason why Nehemiah was enraged by this injustice is ultimately because of "the fear of our God" (Neh 5.9). 

Later in the chapter, Nehemiah discloses details about himself. Instead of taking advantage of others or taking things that rightfully belonged to him, he was sacrificial. Why? For the same reason: "because of the fear of God" (Neh 5.15). So we see both times that Nehemiah responds with this three-dimensional view of life. Because God is holy and is to be revered, we should treat each other fairly and generously.

Some of us are also generous with our resources, but the question that this passage presents us is: why? Is it because of habit or because it's the right thing to do? If so, then that is only a two-dimensional view on life. Instead, our generosity must be motivated by the fact that God is holy and is therefore worthy of all our resources. For others who have not been generous, this passage challenges us to look beyond our situation and reminds us that our holy God is worthy of every sacrifice.