Daily Dose of Hope

March 5, 2025

Day 4 of Week 49

 

Scripture:  Nehemiah 4-6; Psalm 98; Revelation 6

 

Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope.  The Daily Dose is the podcast and devotional that goes along with our daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida. 

 

For our Old Testament reading today, we are back in Nehemiah, specifically chapters 4 though 6.  In chapter 4, we find that when we are doing God’s work, there will always be opposition! Here we have Nehemiah and the residents of Jerusalem working day and night to rebuild the wall. This would provide fortification for the city, the residents could prosper, and the city could flourish. God’s city could flourish. Of course, the evil one doesn’t want that.

 

But while obstacles should be expected, we should also expect that God will provide the answers. Nehemiah prays to God and God gives him the wisdom to fight against the enemies. They would guard the walls day and night. They would work with their weapons. They would never let their guard down. God gave them the plan, the strength, and the courage, they needed to persevere. As a result, the enemies eventually backed down.

 

How has God called you to do his work? Have you experienced obstacles? Please trust God to give you the plan, courage, and strength to finish the work. Don’t be discouraged! God is with you. The same God who was with Nehemiah is with you.

 

Chapter 5 is distressing.  There is tremendous disunity among God’s people, which also threatens to hinder the completion of the wall.  Satan does not need to raise up enemies against God’s work if he can turn God’s people against each other. Many of the poor families were complaining against the rich. They were struggling to feed their children. Instead of the rich helping them, they were exploiting them. The poor Jews needed to eat. The rich Jews offered to help them, but did so at a price and it was a heavy one. The rich Jews forced their poorer brethren to mortgage their own property in order to get money to eat. That in itself wasn’t the worst of it. When property wasn’t enough collateral they took their children as slaves. In addition, they charged such heavy interest that the poorer class had no hope to get out from under this burden of debt. The king’s tax seems to be the catalyst for all of this. It seems that the royal tax was very high. This was what caused the people to get into debt at the beginning. Rather than help them get out of debt, the rich added to their burdens. It was a classic case of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” 

 

Nehemiah takes action.  He immediately speaks out against the wealthy.  He calls them to repentance and asks them to do right, to give back what isn’t theirs, and to stop taking advantage of the poor.  They promise to do so.  But Nehemiah is quite clear – he will hold them to it. 

 

Let’s move over to chapter 6.  Here we see that Nehemiah’s opponents, people like Sanballat and Tobiah, continue to do all they can to intimidate him. They schemed to take his life, they sent ugly letters, and they hired crooked prophets to prophecy against him. They didn’t let up. And yet, God’s work continued. God had given Nehemiah wisdom. Nehemiah had to constantly be discerning what was safe and what wasn’t. He had to constantly listen to God rather than those around him.

 

There must have been times in which he was scared or unsure. After all, he was only human. But he knew that God was bigger than his fear. God was bigger than these men who were plotting against him. God was bigger than whatever they threw at him. He knew this, he believed it, and he trusted it. As a result, the wall was completed. The enemies grew scared and everyone knew it was the work of the Lord.

 

As I write this, I’m thinking that there are some people who need to know that God is bigger than whatever you are going through. God is bigger than your diagnosis, God is bigger than your grief, God is bigger than your pain, God is bigger than your financial worries, God is bigger than whatever burdens or worries you carry. Can you know this, believe this, and trust this truth?

 

Our New Testament reading is Revelation 6.  In this chapter, we find Jesus Christ receiving a preview of world history from the first century to his return. Each seal he opens reveals something different over the course of human history, none of which are desirable. As you read through the text, try not to get stuck in taking the words literally. Simply try to visualize what John is describing. Each aspect of the text has deep meaning but wasn’t intended to be taken literally. What these visions symbolize, however, are quite extraordinary.

 

When Jesus opens the first four seals, each action brings forth a rider on a horse. The first four riders represent pretty horrible things for humanity, such as military conquest (the first rider), warfare (the second rider), famine (the third rider), and death (the fourth rider). Wherever the first three go, death is sure to show up as a result. As horrible as these four scourges are for the human race, the symbolism here indicates that Christ limits their power. They could be worse. God allows these aspects of our sin and brokenness to exist but he will not allow them to overtake the world.

 

Just a small but interesting point: generally, we think of the number 4 in the book of Revelation as representing the world or the things of the world. The first four horsemen have trampled all around the world throughout the course of history, devastating humanity. But Christ has and will continue to limit their power. He is the one who holds the keys to death (John 1:18 ). Remember the first listeners to this message. These words would remind them that there was more going on in the world, particularly in the spiritual realm, than they could see. All the horrors they were experiencing on earth were real but there was something bigger going on. Oh yeah, and Jesus would have the final word.

 

After the fifth seal was opened, something else shows up on the scene–an altar. Under the altar were the martyrs of the faith. These were people who had been slain for their belief in Jesus. They call out to Jesus, calling him Sovereign Lord, righteous and true. But these souls are asking Jesus for justice, when their deaths will be avenged? This is a grim reminder that Christians have and will continue to be killed for their belief in Christ. How easy it is for us as Americans to set this reality aside, to forget that believers are being killed, tortured, or oppressed for their faith right now in various parts of the world. What might God be calling us to do about it?

 

The sixth seal isa reminder of the natural calamities that have devastated the earth over thousands upon thousands of years. Humans react by hiding or blaming God. But before Jesus’ second coming, we can be assured that the earth will continue to experience disasters of all kinds. The last line of the chapter is worth a mention. It expresses that the day of the Lord’s wrath is coming. The world will experience military conquest, warfare, famine, death, martyrdom, and natural disasters between Jesus’ first and second coming. These things are part of being human and part of living in this world. But ultimately, Jesus will prevail. He will come in all his glory and judge all of the world.

 

I know we struggle with concepts like judgement. But we have nothing to fear if we belong to Jesus. While trouble is guaranteed as part of life, Jesus’ people can rest assured that we don’t have to be afraid. We know the one who saves. We know the one who will have final victory. We can seek God’s Kingdom now and actively look for glimpses of the new creation to come. Rest in that.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki