Day by day

Nehemiah 8:18a

Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God.

What a feast this was! The feast of tabernacles was celebrated by Nehemiah and the children of Israel once they had settled in their lands. They had just gotten home from captivity in Babylon. Not everyone was home, but some were. And Nehemiah had led the remnant to build the wall of Jerusalem that had been burned and broken down. Once they were finished with the wall, Ezra and those helping him took out the book of the law and began reading to the people. And during this great feast of tabernacles, all the people gathered as one man into one place, and listened to the law being read. What a marvelous sight this would have been, to hear the book of the law read and to see the people listen attentively! They read the book distinctly, they gave the sense, and they caused the people to understand what they just heard. And they continued this practice daily for the seven days of the feast of tabernacles.

Now, we see the benefit of this practice. We see how the people turned to the Lord by hearing His Word read and taught. And does it not still have the same effect today? Most surely it does! As the Word of God is preached and taught in God’s House and as it is read in the individual Christian’s life, it makes a tremendous difference. People have a spiritual sensitivity. People find the joy of the Lord! There is great gladness! This is what happens when the Word of God is read and understood day by day.

Dear friend, are you reading the Word of God day by day? Read Nehemiah, and you shall see the difference that it will make. It may change whole families; it may change an entire nation, as it did here. We only need the Word of God to be read, understood, and obeyed day by day. Read each day! Meditate throughout the day! Feast on it! Take it in! Love the Word of God, and esteem it greater and more valuable than your necessary food. It is an awful thing for the body to be deprived. But it is of a much more dire and terrible nature for the soul to be deprived of its nourishment. It must never happen! We must feast on God’s Word day by day!

“Father, we know that the reading of God’s Word is the most essential and needed element of our day. May we not ever neglect it! Oh Lord, what a shame it would be if we fed the flesh, and the mind, and the body, but never fed the soul. Help us Lord to feed ourselves with Your Word every day. And as Christ instructed us to pray, we ask now that You would give us day by day our daily bread. And we shall praise and thank You for this. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”