In Nehemiah 9:38 after the people returned from captivity in Babylon they made a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and affixed their seals to it. Their agreement was to follow all of God's laws, which they could never do, and it didn't turn out well. Then in Nehemiah 10:28-29 it says....
“The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.
On the surface this seems like a good thing that they wanted to follow God's law, but not by binding themselves with a curse.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:36-37...
Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
Binding and loosing is a powerful thing especially when put in writing in agreement with others. And we must be careful not to bind ourselves to something we can't keep and also not to bind God. One of the most powerful things we can do is loose God to work in our lives. God has bound himself with a covenant commitment to give us his steadfast love and faithfulness, but he won't force things on us, which is why we need to loose him to work in our lives.
As we take communion today we are asking for God's help to understand this powerful principle of binding and loosing, the way he intended it to function. And it is a time to remember that God has bound himself to this new covenant, because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
I am praying for you.
Daniel
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