Once the Thanksgiving turkey disappears and the pumpkin pie plate is licked clean, my wife turns on the Christmas music. We listen to carols of all varieties deep into January. Not that I’m complaining, I also enjoy the music of this season.

Music was important to the ancient followers of Yahweh as well. David and Solomon wrote psalms and put them to music. Musicians performed at religious festivals and in the temple. But over years of falling away from God, which led to their eventual subjugation, the people of Israel and Judah lost their practice of praise.

When Zerubbabel and Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple, they reinstituted the role of the musicians: For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the musicians and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers.

The worship experience for many in Jerusalem was like Christmas without the carols. Imagine the joy of hearing the music of faith fill your ears for the first time.

Songs of praise and thanksgiving point us to the power, majesty and goodness of God. The musicians at our local churches follow in a long line of shepherds pointing us to the Lord. Thank them when you get the chance.

In the meantime, crank up volume. Give thought to the lyrics of your favorite carols. Let the hymn writers and musicians of the past lead you to an invigorated experience with our Savior.

Nehemiah 12 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Aaron Burden

My brother and I stayed with our grandparents at times when we were kids. One morning my grandma told us that if we walked with her to the store she would buy us a “straw hat.” (Side note—I never saw either of my two grandmothers drive. They walked places or rode with others. I was surprised later in life to meet grandmas who operated motor vehicles).

Thinking a “straw hat” sounded pretty dumb, I decided to stay at the house. When my brother returned a couple hours later sporting a shiny new straw cowboy hat, I flipped out. “Grandma, can I get a hat?” Nope—I didn’t help at the store, so I missed out on a hat. Tough love from the G-ma.

A huge construction project took place with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Citizens of every rank and profession pitched in. They hoisted chunks of stone and carried swords due to threats from enemies. Folks cooked meals while children scanned the horizon. It was a glorious community effort.

Except for a few holdouts.

Nehemiah described section after section of wall and the cadre of citizens who did the repairs. In the list he mentions a handful of aristocrats: The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

Why did these nobles refuse to help? What stuck in their craw? Were they too proud to stoop to manual labor, or unwilling to work alongside social inferiors? More likely, these men were enmeshed with the local powers-that-be, and the wall jeopardized their economic prospects. The status quo enriched them. They secretly hoped for the project to fail.

Despite their lack of participation, the wall rose and their power fell. These blue bloods missed out on the greatest undertaking of their generation. They missed out on friendships formed in adversity, and they missed out on stories to pass on to their grandchildren.

Don’t miss out. Don’t let pride or fear or social status or desire for financial gain keep you from joining God’s people. Find a place to serve and put your shoulder to the work.

Nehemiah 3 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Megan Bucknall

I read somewhere once a phrase that rings true in my experience—beware the wrath of a patient man.

Patient people maintain composure in difficult circumstances. They bear with others who make foolish mistakes and ignore sound instructions. Long-suffering, the patient among us absorb personal slights and even insults, hoping to develop maturity in those they encounter.

But every person breaks at some point, the patient often with spectacular results.

In Revelation, John wrote of an impending time of judgment. These days will involve the death of a quarter of the earth’s population by sword, famine, plague and even wild beasts. The cause of this holy terror?

The Lamb of God.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Having strolled through a few petting zoos, it’s hard to picture a wrathful lamb. But He’s coming. When Jesus arrived the first time, many were confused. But Jesus will arrive the second time with absolute clarity. We will either fall in worship, or flee for the hills.

Indeed, beware the wrath of a patient man. But even more so, beware the wrath of a patient Savior.

Revelation 6 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Rod Long

Salt emerged as a valuable commodity across the ancient world. Kings maintained a monopoly on salt and exacted great profits on its sale and distribution. The English word salary is derived from the Latin salarium, the ration of salt given to soldiers as part of their pay. From this practice sprang our modern expression describing a lazy worker as not worth his salt.

King Artaxerxes bestowed a highly valuable gift on Ezra and his band who attempted to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Now I, King Artaxerxes, decree that all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates are to provide with diligence whatever Ezra the priest, the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven, may ask of you—up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.

Salt without limit, along with the other supplies, were to be delivered without delay. Such gifts underscored the serious intention of the king.

The generosity of a pagan king toward the rebuilding of a temple reminds me of the lavish ways the Lord treats us. Artaxerxes possessed vast resources which he shared with Ezra. The Lord possesses far more, and opens his hands with greater magnanimity. I must remember to ask, and to remain ever grateful for the gifts of salt without limit in my life.

Ezra 7 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Faran Raufi