Daily Devotions – Leaving a Legacy

Daily Devotions – Leaving a Legacy

Nehemiah 13:6-14 (ESV)

6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

In the final chapter Nehemiah is finalizing his reforms and is upset that many Israelites are still unfaithful. So he comes in and cleans up the mess and asks that God would “not blot out” what he has “so faithfully done” (13:14). This sounds nice, but leaving a legacy is not what faith in God is about. We are not trying to earn God’s love. We should not act like we can win God’s favor. We do not do things for God as if he needed our help. Christ does everything for us. Christ purifies our hearts and our lives. Our legacy is Christ. Nehemiah’s work ultimately points to the cross and the one whose work will never be blotted out