“They learned from the Law (scriptures) that the people of Israel were to live in booths when they celebrated the festival in the seventh month of the year. So, the people went out, brought back branches, and made booths for themselves…” Nehemiah 8:14, 16 CSB
One of my least favorite things to do in the world is putting together Ikea furniture. Just the idea of it gives me a certain amount of pain. Me, 5,000 non-sensical pieces, and one instruction booklet with no words. Definitely the ingredients for one particular type of mental suffering. But as I have tackled it in the past, I knew my utter dependence upon the instruction book. As I carefully sliced open that box and encountered the daunting contents staring back at me, I quickly averted my eyes from the mass of metal, wood, and tools, and only looked for the book. But wouldn’t it be silly if I grabbed that book, read it exhaustively, and then tossed it in the trash and did none of what it said? Yes, that would be beyond silly. Yet when it comes to God’s Word, I see this done in lives all around me every single day.
In Nehemiah chapter 8 we see a great reawakening. A great resurgence. And it all revolves around the Word of God. Nehemiah knows that the people cannot do what they do not know, so he commits to teach them. He has Ezra, the mighty Bible scribe of God, bring the book of God’s Law into the town square of Jerusalem. They build a big stage, assemble the elders, and do something so simple it will make you scratch your head in wonder. They simply read and teach the Word of God. They read it from 8am until noon. They station teachers around the crowd and when questions come up, they explain and teach the people. They simply read, study, and understand the assembly instructions of a Godly life that can only be found when written by the hand that created the life. But folks, in one of the most impactful and powerful sections of the entire chapter, we see that after the Bible study they didn’t just go to lunch at Luby’s immediately forgetting what they had just read. As James 1:22 so powerfully and simply states, they didn’t just hear the Word, they did it. They realized through God’s Word that they weren’t keeping the festivals properly, so guess what? They started…immediately.
Today, it’s not enough for the Christ-follower to just casually flip through their Bible and then set it back down and forget it. Today, it’s not enough for the Christian to just read an inspirational Bible meme on Facebook and then check the box that you’ve encountered God’s Word without actually doing what it commands you. It’s not enough to just casually follow God in partial obedience, mentally telling yourself your doing it when your hands and feet are telling a much different story. Friends, it’s not enough to just hear God's Word and only process it mentally...the Word of God requires action. It is a written set of instructions for our lives that are meant to be used in the assembly of the Chistian life.
In our study verse above, we see that the Israelites immediately constructed booths as the Law of God commanded. They didn’t need to pray for weeks about what they read in God’s Word, it was a command, they simply did it. They didn’t assemble a small group study to discuss what they thought it meant, it was a command, they just did it. They didn’t spend years in seminary to learn how to better exegetically apply a deep contextual hermeneutical study of it through careful systematic theology, unnecessary. It was a command, they just did it.
Today don’t just hear God’s Word, do it. As you read His Word, pray to the Holy Spirit to reveal your course of action concerning what you read and then take notes as to how He would have you react. And then do it. I pray that your daily time in God’s Word today reveals a challenge from God. For our goal is to become more like Christ each day, and that growth is spurred by the challenges to do what His Word commands of us.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22
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