The Israelites went on to read the book of Moses and tried to abide by the Law and instructions. Unfortunately, they could not keep up with their decisions for long.

Nehemiah had been called back to Babylon after his term as a governor of Judea. When he returned to Jerusalem after some years, he saw that the priest in charge of the temple storeroom let Tobiah, who opposed the restoration work (2:10), take a personal space in the storeroom (5). People had stopped giving tithes and firstfruits as offering to support the house of God. As a result, the temple workers were not being provided for and forced to scatter to provide their living (11).

Nehemiah threw out all of Tobiah's belongings and ordered all rooms in the temple to be purified (9). The tithes and grain offerings were restored (12). We cannot depend on our feelings of goodwill to live a life of faith and worship God. We need to trust God's grace and provision and have the discipline to purify our hearts before him and practice giving an offering. What is in your heart that needs to be cleared to put God in the center?


Application: Father, you are my LORD, and I worship you with all my heart. Please help me to have the strength to purify my heart to be right before you and serve you without hindrance.
One Word: We need God's grace to keep pure hearts.