Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. Nehemiah 9:36
Our five-year-old granddaughter was looking forward to her visit to the dollar store with Grandma. She was going to be allowed to pick out two or three things for herself, if she was a good girl. When she got to the dollar store, she and Grandma picked out a couple of colouring books and some stickers. But when they headed for the checkout, Grace decided that she also needed a toy, and dashed over to the toy section. Grandma informed her that selecting a toy would mean putting one of the other items back. Grace insisted on the toy and the other things too, and threw a tantrum to back up her demand. Wrong move! Grandma doesn’t like tantrums, and refuses to reward them. She bought the items previously selected, and returned the protesting granddaughter to her mother. But the purchased items went into a closet where they will remain until Grandma determines that they are deserved. Grace badly wants those items, but she can’t enjoy them. She is like the Israelites who returned from captivity to find themselves unable to enjoy the land that had been promised to them centuries before. She is also like Christians who are unable because of disobedience to enjoy the salvation that we have received.
The people in Jerusalem longed for freedom to enjoy the land that God had given their ancestors. They knew that it was disobedience to God that had caused the captivity of the people and that was preventing them from enjoying the land when they returned. They acknowledged that they were slaves to the people around them. That is just like Christians who have abandoned their walk with the Lord to take up the pleasures of the world. They have become slaves to those things from the past that had enslaved them in their unsaved days. And all of the benefits of their salvation seem empty and meaningless. The Israelites knew what they had to do to remedy their situation. They needed to confess their sins and to return to serving the Lord. The same applies to backslidden Christians. The joy of our salvation can – and will – return when we are obedient. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
The situation in Jerusalem was tough. The people disliked their repressed and disadvantaged situation. The situation is also tough for the backslider today. Those who have been truly born again can never fully enjoy the slavery of sin and the destructive pleasures of the world. And a carnal Christian is unable to enjoy the blessings of God and the joys that come from serving and following the Lord. Such a person cannot help but be miserable. And that is not how God wants us to be.
We do not need to be slaves to the things of this world, if we will take our rightful place with the servants of the Lord. -Jim MacIntosh