The Progression of Sin - Meditations on Nehemiah 5

"Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards." (Nehemiah 5:5)

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Have you ever been in a situation where nothing seems to be going your way? Everyone and everything seems to be conspiring against you. Sometimes circumstances are just out of our control. This was the case with the Jews. Not only were they sacrificing their time, energy, and resources to rebuild the wall, not only were they being opposed by their enemies, but now there was a famine in the land. The fields were not producing, grain was scarce, there was no bread. The people began to wonder where their next meal would come from. How could they continue to work on the wall when they didn't even have food to eat? Shouldn't the next meal be the top priority?

Apparently, some of the Jews decided to take matters into their own hands. Even if everybody couldn't be fed, they would make sure that they and their families were. They outnumbered other families, so they could take advantage of their numbers to shift the food supply in their favor (Neh. 5:2). But they didn't stop there. Once they got control of the food supply, they realized that there was a way for them to make a profit, too. Some families who had land but no food were made to mortgage their properties in order to buy it (Neh. 5:3). Other families who had some food but were low on cash mortgaged their properties in order to get money to pay their taxes (Neh. 5:4). The situation got so bad that some people, when their mortgage ran out, had to give their children up to forced labor so that they could put food on the table.

Obviously, what these people were doing was wrong. Nehemiah reacted sharply to their behavior. But it should be noted that these were not particularly evil men and women. They were "Jewish brothers" (Neh. 5:1). When they were confronted about their actions, they responded positively and vowed to restore everything that they had taken (Neh. 5:12). They were not hardened in their rebellion; they were men who had gotten carried away and led into sin by their own desires and unbelief.

How did this happen? What can we learn from their behavior? Is there a warning here that we need to head? Consider two things:

1. They attempted to work a salvation for themselves. The people had been opposed by their enemies, enticed by their friends, and made to doubt by their own fears and weakness. Nehemiah had confronted all of these threats with the power and promises of God. Until now, God had been enough. What, then, made their faith waver at this point? They were afraid that God would not provide for their basic needs. They did not trust that God would sustain them in the work even in the midst of famine.

This unbelief led them to attempt to work a salvation for themselves. Since God was not doing anything, they determined to make things right in their own power. Inevitably, this is where things really go wrong. Unbelief is a sin making sin. Just as Saul, acting out of desperation, offered sacrifice instead of waiting on God (1 Samuel 13:8-14), these people decided that it was better to act now before things got worse.

    

2. They took advantage of their brothers for their own benefit. Maybe they didn't even think about what God had said about charging interest from their fellow Jews when they devised their plans (Ex. 22:25-27; Lev. 25:35-38). If they did, they probably justified their actions by telling themselves that it was necessary in order to survive. In either case, their first sin lead on to more and greater sins. This is standard operating procedure for sin: lawlessness leads to more lawlessness (Romans 6:19). It is like a fire that consumes everything in its path. You can't bargain with it. You can't tell it to take only so much and nothing more. The more it is fed, the stronger it grows and the more it demands. Just as David's failure to fulfill his responsibilities led to adultery, deception, and eventually murder, their sin had advanced far beyond what they had originally intended.

Take a moment to examine your own life. Are you desperate about anything, afraid that God will not come through? Or are you trusting in His promises even in the face of hardship? Is unbelief beginning to grow in your heart? You must confront it at its first stages with the promises, power, and faithfulness of God.

Perhaps you have already moved beyond unbelief and have taken matters into your own hands. Maybe you are already in a pattern of sin that has taken you further than you wanted to go. Don't give your sin any room to make excuses. Confront it now with the law of God and condemn it. Recognize the guilt of your sin, confess it and repent. Then turn to the cross and ask God for grace to sustain you. There is time now for you to get off the path to further sin.