The value of maintaining a correct order of priorities

The Kingdom of God is not static. He needs to make daily decisions to strengthen himself, to defend himself from the enemy, to carry out the plans that God is sowing in our hearts. Many times we feel overwhelmed with the accumulation of tasks that lie ahead. Busy schedules sometimes become burdens that are impossible to sustain on our own and in the eagerness to fulfill all tasks, we neglect what main, which is our intimacy with the Lord, our dependence on Him, our surrender to his will. Nehemiah knew how to set priorities.

The rebuilding work on the wall of Jerusalem had been completed in 52 days after hard work by the people and persistent opposition from God's enemies. And now how to continue? Governor Nehemiah still had a high responsibility and had to put his obligations in order and take care of what God had allowed him to achieve. Nehemiah's priorities were: delegate governance to godly and God-fearing men, preserve the city from the attacks of the external enemy through a defense system, make a census where the genealogies and lineage of the deportees were recorded, select from among the thousands of priests those who are truly spiritually fit to minister in the temple and finally establish and record the offerings to continue building the work of God.

It is a beautiful lesson for us Christians today. The Lord fights our battles, rebuilds our spiritual ruins, raises the walls of faith and trust in divine power, and in the end, we neglect ourselves. We leave open the gaps through which the enemy sneaks into us. God is good and He has provided us with a whole spiritual defense system to get up: prayer, reading and meditation on his Word, his church, godly and God-fearing sisters and brothers who accompany us on the race, in short , a whole spiritual arsenal of the highest order.

How many times do we neglect prayer and being alone in intimacy with our Lord? How many times can we say as Nehemiah "My God put in my heart ..."? (Neh 7.5) as a result of an absolute surrender to his will to hear his voice at all times? Do we tolerate and overlook the faults of those brothers who are spiritually unfit to minister to God's people? God commanded Moses: “Furthermore, you shall choose from among all the people capable, God-fearing men, truthful men who abhor dishonest gain, and you shall set them over the people as heads of a thousand, a hundred, a fifty, and a ten. (Ex 18.21).

Our priority is Christ. Strengthen and build in his name the values of the Kingdom of God against the values of impiety and the debauchery of the forces of evil. The world is in ruins but we are heirs of the heavenly promises. Let us seek Him and He will establish priorities in our hearts. Blessed is the man and the woman who can say like Nehemiah "My God put in my heart ..." You can be sure that if you are in perfect communication with your Lord, what He puts in your heart is the first thing you should do.

God bless you!

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 7