Now is a Good Time to Get it Right

Daily Devotional

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Nehemiah 9:38 & 10:29 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. … They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law.

If we keep making the same mistakes, after a while it will catch up with us. A bad situation will get worse. Why wait until then? Now is a good time to get it right. Solomon repeatedly made the mistake of being entangled with strange women and it hurt him in the end. They turned his heart away from God when he got old. Solomon waited too long to get it right. What is significant about this occurrence in the Bible is that the practice of engaging with strange women may have seemed like it was no big deal, but it went against the word of God and came back to bite Solomon in the long-run.

For years also the Children of Israel made the mistake of disregarding the word of God. It did not end well with them as ultimately they were taken as captives from their promised land. The elders and leaders of the remnant that returned from the captivity were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. As a result, they took a radical step: they made a written covenant that all the people would keep the word of God and the princes, Levites, and priests had to sign to it. To pave the way for this commitment two things were done prior. First, the people were reacquainted with the word of God through the teaching of Ezra the scribe (Nehemiah 8:1-4). Before we can keep all the laws of God, we must first be aware of them.

The second step that the people took was to engage themselves in a time of prayer and fasting (Nehemiah 9:1). We cannot keep the word of God through our own strength; we need divine power to be able to do so and prayer and fasting help us to tap into that power.

The remnant never waited in seeking to prevent past mistakes, neither should you. Waiting too long to get it right will do more harm than good, seize the opportunity right now to get it right.

Life Application: Get it right now by reacquainting yourself with the word of God, fast and pray and make a firm commitment to God to adhere to all of his laws.

Prayer: Lord, I have to get it right with you. Teach me through your word your laws and precepts and May I adhere to them through your divine strength. In Jesus’ name, amen.