Learn From Others

What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?

(Nehemiah 13:17-18)

Nehemiah had returned for a bit to the Persian King Artaxerxes. When he returned to Jerusalem, he found many things had not gone well. In fact, it was business as usual for some!

The Temple rooms were given out to friends.(Nehemiah 13:4-5)There was selling and buying on the Sabbath. (Nehemiah 13:15-16) There was marrying outside of the faith. (Nehemiah 13:23-24)

Had they not learned from others . . . from the past mistakes and sins of Israel?

The Hebrew nation had a histroy of being recsued by God, falling into sin, and then having to be rescued again by God. Each time, they suffered for their sin with death, enslavement, and other punishment from God. They could not learn from others well.

It's not much different today. We tell our children not to do what we have done. Learn from our mistakes. However, our youth tend to want to find out on their own. One thing they do discover: The consequences are often worse that they were for us!

But it is not just the young people. We too tend to be ignorant of others' mis-steps. At times, we think we can get away with sin with no consequences. Sin has a way of finding us sooner or later. It shows up in our finances, relationships, and in our mental well-being.

Let's make it a point to learn from others . . . in the Bible and in our nation's short histroy. Let's even learn from our own mistakes and make a commitment today to honor God so we too can say as Nehemiah once said:

Remember me with favor, my God.

(Nehemiah 13:31)