We're Either Moving Forward Or We're Wandering In Retreat!

One of the things I have learned over the years both from Scripture as well as my own personal experience is that no matter how mature in Christ, how passionate about the gospel, how effective in ministry, and how greatly we may have sacrificed for the Faith, all of us are still very much prone to wander from the Lord we love.  And it doesn't take much to get us wandering.  For many of us its not as much an intentional walking away from Jesus or from His Word as much as it is an unintentional wandering resulting from the neglect of and inattentiveness to spiritual priorities and disciplines in our lives.  

One of the vivid examples the Bible gives us of such neglect is found in the Book of Nehemiah.  In this autobiographical report, Nehemiah gives us a “play by play” analysis of everything that took place when he traveled from the Persian city of Susa to Jerusalem to lead in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem as well as be used by God to help ignite a spiritual revival.  The climax of this revival is seen in chapters 8-9 where the people, upon hearing the Word of God, read and taught, respond by confessing and repenting of their sins.   Then in chapter 10, they signed a covenant in which they promised to obey and honor the Lord from there on out.  

What a tremendous response to the preaching of the Word of God.  I’m sure Nehemiah was ecstatic.  What preacher wouldn’t be thrilled to have a whole nation respond to the Word of God in such powerful expressions of love and loyalty to the Lord?  

Well after his twelve year success in leading in this great work for God among his people, Nehemiah needed to return to his day job as the cupbearer to King Artexerxes back in Persia.  In preparation, he did what any good leader would do under the same circumstances.  He made sure the reforms he had set in motion would be carried on by qualified men.  Once theses arrangements were made, he then left to resume his service to the king.

Now, fast forward twenty some years and Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, only to find that in the approximately two decades that he had been gone, the people had drifted back to the way they were before he had come the first time.  I’m sure he was shocked to hear about and actually see for himself that the mountaintop experience of twenty years ago had become a distant memory in the people’s minds and hearts.  And I’m certain, he was greatly saddened to find that the people’s zeal for God’s praise and glory, which burned hot twenty years ago, was now, cold as ice.

Nehemiah 13, is the record of how quickly and gradually God’s people can move from a spiritual high to spiritual decline.  Its a good reminder to all of us that even in our strongest and most vital  moments with God, we are still very “prone to wander from the God we love”.  

It appears, from reading chapter 13, that the people began their departure from Nehemiah’s reforms in very small and seemingly insignificant steps, that really could be described as inattentiveness to God’s Word.  More specifically, the people were guilty of a careless attitude toward corporate worship seriously (13:4-21) while the spiritual leaders were guilty of a nonchalant attitude toward their spiritual leadership responsibilities, giving their time, energy, and influence to following popular, yet unbiblical, trends (13:22, 28-30).

Spiritual and Biblical reform is always an ongoing experience.  If not, it, very quickly, becomes “dis-reform”, which sometimes leads us back to square one in our walk with the Lord.  We must never forget that regardless of whatever progress we have made in Christ, whatever growth and maturity we are experiencing, and however intimate our walk with the Lord is today--we are still prone to wander. We must not forget, that until Heaven, when the presence of sin is completely removed from us, that our hearts are still prone to wander from the God we love.  Therefore, as Proverbs 4:23 commands: We must always “Watch over our hearts with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Just like the people of God in Nehemiah's day, we cannot afford to underestimate the destructive inclination and desires of our own sinful flesh which we carry with us until the day we die and finally experience freedom from any further influence and inclination toward sin.  Nor can we disregard the powerful pull of the world toward its fruitless, fragile, and fleeting pleasures.  Certainly, we dare not forget that the enemy of our souls, who is none other than the devil, is always prowling around seeking those, who are careless among us, whom he can devour.   Finally, we must always keep at the forefront of our minds, the truth, that we are either moving forward in our battle against sin, our flesh, the world, and the devil or we are in retreat, which is nothing less than wandering.