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 military leader and king of Israel. The book of Nehemiah is an autobiographical account of how one man, a simple cupbearer, prayed that GOD allow him to rebuild the walls and spirit of a broken nation and how GOD answered that prayer. One person was willing to leave a comfortable place in order to lay a few bricks and provide leadership 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 President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, we are a nation in trouble:
- One in three children is overweight or obese.
- On average children spend more than seven and a half hours per day in front of a screen.
- Nearly one third of high school students play video or computer games 3 or more hours on an average school day.
- Only one in three children are physically active every day.
- About 90% of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet. In fact US adults consume an average of 3,400 mg/day of sodium, well above the current federal guideline of less than 2,300 mg daily.
- Obesity is a growing threat to national security---a surprising 27% of young Americans are too overweight to serve in our military. Approximately 15,000 potential recruits fail their physicals every year because they are unfit.
- Only 6 states (Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York and Vermont) require physical education in every grade, K-12.
- Fewer than 1 in 3 adults eat the recommended amount of vegetables each day.
- Less than 20% of adults meet the 30-minutes of recommended activity each day.
- The medical care costs of obesity in the United States are staggering. In 2008 dollars, these costs totaled about $147 billion.
See, President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, www.fitness.gov.
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:
- In 2000, only 59% of Americans reported that they read the Bible occasionally. This is down from 73% in the 1980s.
- Only 37% of Americans reported reading their Bible at least once a week.
- 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.
- 60% of Americans could not name more than five of the Ten Commandments, causing George Barna, the President of the Barna Research Group to conclude: "No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don't know what they are."
- 12% of adult Americans believe that Noah's wife was Joan of Arc.
- 50% thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.
- A considerable number thought the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham
- 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
See, "Americans and the Bible: Bible Ownership, Reading, Study and Knowledge in the United States by Michael J. Vlach and "The Scandal of Bible Illiteracy: It's Our Problem," by Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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.
A NATIONAL CRISIS
We are a nation in trouble. There are some definite holes in our physical and spiritual "fitness programs." It is obvious from the above articles that many Americans are either not reading their bibles or not spiritually literate enough to know what THE WORD says or means. If you are a member of a church, a temple, a synagogue, have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or are just a plain old American, concerned about the "health" of our nation, some of the statistics listed above should be "very disturbing." Like Nehemiah, it should make you want to cry out and want to do something. If nothing else, each one of us should want to at least "set an example."
Each one of us should at least want to put in the sweat and "mortar" necessary to restore and re-build the physical and spiritual health of our nation, by working on at least one "brick"---ourselves.
Each of us can read scripture, attend Bible study meetings and attend Sunday School classes. We can also bring [not send] our children to church and visit their Sunday school classes. We can even review the entire Sunday School lesson as a family, just to make sure we and "everyone else" "gets it." 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. The Bible also says "offer your bodies as living sacrifices." Romans 12:1. Now we know why. It is a matter of national priority.
Remember, it is never too late. Every prayer, every hour we sit less, every hour of physical exercise, every hour we spend in bible study counts. Each one of us is an important "brick" in the health of a family, a community and a church. Every Wednesday is a "brick" in a blueprint for success!
So, be prayerful, be steadfast, 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.
