Nehemiah 1:1-4 The Autobiography of Nehemiah, the son of Hecaliah: In December of the Twentieth year of the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, when I was at the palace of Shushan, one of my fellow Jews named Hanani came to visit me with some men who had arrived from Judah. I took the opportunity to inquire about how things were going in Jerusalem. "How are they getting along?" I asked. "—the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from their exile here?" "Well," they replied, "things are not good; the wall of Jerusalem is still torn down, and the gates are burned." When I heard this, I sat down and cried. In fact, I refused to eat for several days, for I spent the time in prayer to the God of heaven.
[Living Bible translation]
Summary
Throughout the Bible, there are a number of examples of God dealing with cities (like Sodom, Gomorrah and Jericho), with nations (such as the nation of Israel, Ancient Egypt, the Babylonian Empire) and with individuals (for example, Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and Paul). Sometimes GOD uses a single individual to make a difference in the history of a great nation, such as when GOD used Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt or when David became king of Israel. The book of Nehemiah is an autobiographical account of how one man, a simple cupbearer, prayed that GOD would allow him to rebuild the walls of a broken nation and how GOD answered that prayer. One person was willing to leave a comfortable palace in order to lay a few bricks in order to rebuild and restore the physical and the spiritual health of a nation.
THE STATE OF OUR NATION
Physical Fitness
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, we are a nation in trouble:
- Obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United
States - triple the rate from just one generation ago. - Childhood obesity is the result of eating too many calories and not getting enough physical activity.
- Approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents, aged 2—19 years, are obese.
- Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.
- Children 8—18 years of age spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including TV, computers, video games, cell phones, and movies.
- Of those 7.5 hours, about 4.5 hours is dedicated to viewing TV.
- TV viewing is a contributing factor to childhood obesity because it may take away from the time children spend in physical activities; leads to increased calorie intake through snacking and eating meals in front of the TV; and, influences children to make unhealthy food choices through exposure to food advertisements.
- More than one third of U. S. adults (37%) are obese.
- Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable deaths.
- Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rate of obesity (49.5%) compared to Mexican Americans (40.4%), all Hispanics (39.1%) and non-Hispanic whites (34.3%).
- Among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those with higher incomes are more likely to be obese than those with low incomes.
- By state, obesity prevalence ranged from 20.5% in Colorado to 34.7% in Louisiana in 2012. No state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Nine states and the District of Columbia had prevalence between 20-25%. Thirteen (13) states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia) had a prevalence equal to or greater than 30%.
See, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/obesity.
Spiritual Fitness
In "Americans and the Bible: Bible Ownership, Reading, Study and Knowledge in the United States," Michael J. Vlach reported that although 92% of America households own at least one Bible, and the average number of Bibles is three:
- In 2000, only 59% of Americans reported that they read the Bible
occasionally. This is down from 73% in the 1980s.
- Only 42% of Americans were able to name at least five of the Ten
Commandments correctly.
- Only half of adults interviewed nationwide could name any of the four
Gospels of the New Testament and just 37% of those interviewed could
name all four Gospels.
- 12% of adult Americans believe that Noah's wife was Joan of Arc.
- 49% believe that the Bible teaches that "money is the root of all evil." 1
- 75% believe the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves." 2
- Fourteen percent (14%) of Americans currently belong to a Bible study
group. This is down a full one-third (1/3) from 1990 when 21% said they
were involves in a Bible study group.
See, "Americans and the Bible: Bible Ownership, Reading, Study and Knowledge in the United States by Michael J. Vlach.
Gary Burge, a professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, in "The Greatest Story Never Read," recalls Jay Leno (a late night talk show host) interacting with one of his audiences. Leno asked the audience to "Name one of the apostles." No one answered. When he asked them to name the four Beatles, the names "George, Paul, John and Ringo" flew from the crowd.
When Professor Burge conducted research on the biblical and theological literacy of incoming freshman at his college, he found:
- One-third could not put the following in order: Abraham, the Old Testament
prophets, the death of Christ, and Pentecost.
- Half could not correctly sequence the following events: Moses in Egypt,
Isaac's birth, Saul's death, and Judah's exile.
- When asked to locate the biblical book supplying a given story, one-third
could not find Paul's travels in Acts, half did not know that the Christmas
story was in Matthew, half did not know that the Passover story was in
Exodus.
See, "The Greatest Story Never Read: Recovering biblical literacy in the church," by Gary Burge, August 9, 1999, www.christianitytoday.com;
BRICK BY BRICK
Like Nehemiah, each one of us can make a difference. Each one of us can set an example. Each one of us can provide some of the sweat and "mortar" necessary to restore and re-build the physical and spiritual health of our nation. Each of us can read scripture, attend a Bible study and attend Sunday School classes. The Bible exhorts us to: "Study to show thyself approved unto GOD, a workman [workwoman] that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15. It is a national priority. We are all in this together!
Remember, it is never too late! Lay a physical and spiritual brick today. Every "brick" counts! For example, this month, a member if my Sunday School class plans to post a "Healthy Alternative" sign and bring small containers of yogurt to hand out to church members headed to Sunday School. Perhaps another Sunday we will hand out small snack bags of grapes. The ideas for providing healthy alternatives in our churches, on our jobs, in lunchboxes and in our homes are numerous. All we need do is lay one brick---day after day, week after week.
Let's start re-building our nation today and Be Blessed!
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1 Tim 6:10 states: "For the love of money is the root of all evil...."
2 This is not a Bible verse.
