ENGLISH DEVOTION - Hunger for the Word

Hunger for the Word
Nehemiah 8:1-8
Chapter 8 opens with a manifestation of great hunger for the Word among
these people in Jerusalem.
It must be noted that it was a spontaneous gathering.
No invitations were sent out.
No public notice was given.
People were hungry for answers to their problems.
They were looking for guidelines from the Word of God.
Ezra was the man responsible for having the temple rebuilt, and for returning
God’s people to worship.
Nehemiah, in all his work of rebuilding the walls, just carried on the work Ezra
had begun.
They asked Ezra the priest to bring the Law of the Lord and to read it to them.
The book of the Law of Moses was read.
This refers to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy). This was Israel’s instruction manual for how to
walk before God.
There was a tremendous desire among these people for truth.
They listened, while standing, from daybreak until noon.
Certainly, this long attention indicates how deeply they were aware of their
ignorance about life and how much they needed answers from God. They
were simply crying out for the Word.
It seems to me that we have come to such a time as this again.
The prophet Amos predicted that there would come a famine in the world for
the Word of God (Amos 8:11).
People would actually be starving for answers to the problems of life. 

There is a deep hunger among non-churched people to hear the Word of God.
Wherever it is taught with any degree of understanding, they are immediately
attracted to it.
When the Word is opened up, people begin to understand themselves.
When you know God you begin to understand yourself, because you are
made in the image of God.
These people in Jerusalem were soon growing in self-knowledge as they
began to hunger for the Word of God.
The great tragedy of our day in many churches is that the believers take
scripture lightly, and not seem to understand the power of Scripture.
We see that Spirit of God was at work even before the reading of God’s Word.
We must know that people do not gather as one for the things of God unless
the Spirit of God has moved them, and they do not desire God’s Word unless
the Spirit of God has moved them.
 If you attend to the hearing of the Word of God, it is evident that the Spirit of God
is working with you.
But it is still important to cooperate with the work and to not resist it.
We need to cooperate and flow with the work of God’s Spirit if the Word of
God is going to do its full work in us.
Response to God’s Word prompts revival.
The Word of God was doing its intended work. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us two
things the Word of God is profitable for reproof and correction.
Sometimes it hurts to be reproved and corrected, and these tears were
evidence of some of that pain. But the pain gives birth to freedom.
Prayer:
Lord, create in me a hunger for Your Word. Forgive me for so often taking it
for granted. Revive me through your word, reproof me through your word,
correct me through your word. In Jesus Name. Amen.