Internal Strife

Internal Strife
  Nehemiah 5:1-19
Over the past few days, we have been meditating on the tactics that the
the enemy uses to tear down our walls.
The Unseen Enemy tries yet another approach. Nehemiah has successfully
handled the threatened attack from external forces, but now he runs into a
the problem from within his own ranks.
You may experience that too in your struggle to recover some area of your
life.
You may run into family problems, pressures, and problems with those who
work with you, perhaps even from other brothers and sisters in the Lord.
In this case it was a clash between the workers and the officials, the laborers
and the overseers who were working on this project.
To a great degree these were justified complaints. Nehemiah deals with them
earnestly and forthrightly.
He could not change the conditions, but he reveals the real problem--usury.
Usury is charging interest for money that has been loaned--a common
practice in our day.
The Jews were allowed to do this with other races, but Moses said that when
Jews lent money to other Jews, they were not to charge any interest.
Nehemiah is upset by this and demands that they stop. This was more than a
demand to end the practice of usury. He was insisting on restitution as well.
They must give back their unjust gains. Their reaction was surprising.
They were stricken by conscience because they knew from the Scriptures
that what they were doing was wrong.

Believers ought to be very careful about taking advantage of others,
especially other Christians, and getting rich at their expense.
Scripture condemns this practice as uncaring and a poor testimony as it
appears to others.
Nehemiah is encouraged by their promise that they will not do this. He has
first uncovered the real cause.
This shows that it is simple greed that is the problem. He confronts the
overseers with it, rebuking them and showing them, it is wrong.
There is a place and time for forthright, blunt confrontation in our
relationships with others. Sometimes we need to point out to people that
what they are doing is wrong and help them to see what needs to be done.
That is what Nehemiah does.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, strengthen us to act like Nehemiah and be willing to
confront the greed in our own lives. Help us to be people who visibly live
according to what we profess. In Jesus name. Amen