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Nehemiah 12:31
I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the
wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give
thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to
the right, toward the Dung Gate.
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November
3 Choirs of Thanks
Nehemiah 12 is a tremendous picture of
thanks. Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and
saw that the city was defenseless without a wall
around it. He organized the people and
completed the wall around the entire city in
just a few weeks.
The celebration that Nehemiah organizes to
commemorate the event takes a tremendous amount
of organization. Two choirs are formed and
circle the city on top of the wall in opposite
directions.
This is in contrast to spontaneous moments of
praise and thanks. Both have a place in
our worship of God and how we offer thanks.
Many churches are either very structured or very
free. One side has an order of service and
everything happens according to schedule.
The other side moves "by the Spirit of God" and
there is no telling how long a service may last.
God is a God of order but He has also given
us the Holy Spirit as a guide. This means
that both sides of worship and thanks are
acceptable and should even be encouraged.
There are times when we need structure in our
times of thanksgiving like in Nehemiah.
And there are times that we need to be able to
just spontaneously thank God for something great
that He has done. |
