I know that it isn’t Sunday, but it is sometimes amazing to me what God points out to me during my Bible reading. Today this strange verse caught my attention in the book of Nehemiah.
After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest. – Nehemiah 3:20
What a strange verse for God to point out to me. My first reaction was how neat it must be for Zabbai, who is now probably in Heaven, to have his name mentioned in the Bible as someone who did his work zealously for the Lord. It is such a small verse that I’m sure is overlooked by many people. Most folks, if they read that passage at all, more than likely just skim over those verses without remembering any of the names or any of the walls or gates of Jerusalem that were being repaired. However, there it is in print that Zabbai was zealous in his work in repairing his section of the wall – from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib.
I looked back to make sure, but as far as I could tell, no other person was said to have worked zealously. There names and places that they repaired were just mentioned and that’s it.
My second thought was that is how I would like to be remembered. I want to be remembered as someone who zealously works for the Lord. In order to do that I have to carefully examine my life. Am I zealous in everything I do? Am I doing things for myself so that I get the credit or am I doing things for God so that He gets the credit? Am I always trying to do my best with a good attitude – not just a good attitude but a zealous attitude?
I know that the Bible is complete. There will be nothing more added to it. However, in God’s eyes, I want to be seen as just as zealous in my work as Zabbai was. And, I want to be zealous for all of the right reasons.
Lord, Help me to be zealous for all of the right reasons. Help me to work zealously for you and not for myself. Help me not to do things for my glory but for yours. Help me to not be lazy in my work or to do my work half-heartedly, but zealously. You deserve all of the praise and honor, Lord. Whatever I do for you is just a pittance compared to what you have done for me. Thank you Lord. - Amen
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