Pam Padgett ... teacher
In Nehemiah chapter 8 we have an account of people seeking to know what God wanted them to do and then doing what they heard.
The people asked
Ezra to bring the book of the law which God had given to Moses. The book of the law was read distinctly and the people were helped to understand
what was read ...
Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered themselves together as
one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake
unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the
LORD had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law
before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear
with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he
read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the
morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could
understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book
of the law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which
they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and
Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right
hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and
Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 And Ezra opened the
book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;)
and when he opened it, all the people stood up: 6 And Ezra blessed the
LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with
lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the
LORD with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and
Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to
understand the law: and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read
in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused
them to understand the reading.
When they heard something they were not doing, they didn't take it lightly. Instead, they set about to do what they heard ...
Nehemiah 8:13 And on the second day were gathered together the
chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites,
unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. 14 And
they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses,
that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the
seventh month: 15 And that they should publish and proclaim in all their
cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch
olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm
branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
16 So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves
booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and
in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate,
and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the congregation of
them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat
under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that
day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great
gladness.
While considering this account, I thought of how the Holy Spirit leads us as we read the Bible, bringing to our attention what we need to carefully consider, giving us understanding of what God is speaking to us, and leading us in what to do. The Holy Spirit may also speak to us in other ways, such as bringing a thought to us and giving us dreams. Whenever we hear what God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, its important to not take it lightly, but to conform ourselves to that word, doing what we are shown to do, going in the way shown by that word.
James warned us that we deceive ourselves if we hear but don't do the word we hear. He exhorted us to look into the word, going in the way shown by the word, and continue doing it ...
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and
not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway
forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.