May 1st

May 1st -- Nehemiah 8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah%208&version=NLT)

Ezra reads the law ; The Festival of Shelters

In October, after the people had settled, they all gathered at the square just inside the gate. They asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. Ezra brought the book before the assembly (men, women, and all children old enough to understand) and read aloud from morning to noon. Everyone listened closely. Ezra stood above the people with some others who were well-known and followers of God. Ezra began praising, and everyone chanted amen. The Levites then instructed the people in the Law, reading it all and explaining what each part meant. People wept as they heard the words of the Lord, but Nehemiah, Ezra, an the priest and scribe told them to be glad, as it is a sacred day before God. Nehemiah told them to celebrate with a feast. The people did so, because they were glad they had heard God's words and understood them.

On October 9th, then, the family leaders as well as the priests and Levites gathered with Ezra to go over the law in more detail. While studying it, they realized God had commanded them to live in shelters through the festival that would be held that month. A proclamation was to be made to go into the hills and gather many kinds of leafy branches that would be used to build shelters to live in during the festival, as the law commanded. So the people went out and got branches and used them to build shelters. Everyone lived in the shelters during the festival and was filled with joy. The Israelites hadn't celebrated that way since the days of Joshua. On each of the seven days of the festival, Ezra read from the Book of the Law, and on the eighth there was a solemn assembly, as the law required.

The idea of shelters for a festival seems sort of silly, right? Why not just live in their houses? Why bother wasting branches on building a shelter when they had a perfectly good home? Why? Simply because God told them to. He gives no reason - He just gives them that command. The best part is, they listen. They listen and do it. They don't question and ask why, but they instead go to the hills, get branches, and build shelters.
Are we like this? Or do we tend to question God the moment He speaks and we don't understand it? Do we just hear Him and go "God, but why should I ____ ? That makes no sense!" I know I do that sometimes. I am a very logical person, who likes facts and reason a lot, because they make sense to me. Sometimes, when I know God's putting something on my heart, or telling me to do something, I just think there and internally I'm going "But God, this doesn't make sense. Doing ______ would make FAR more sense than _____! Why can't I just do that instead?" I SHOULD be saying "God, this may not make sense to me but I know you have a reason for it," then getting up and doing it. We need to remember those Israelites. They got up and did as told, no questions asked. When we hear God's voice, we need to respond in the same way.

That's all for tonight, folks! God bless! Shalom!