God Speaking

“I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them” (Hosea 11:4)

The hymn, “Bind us together, Lord”, is a favorite in many churches and is often chosen to be sung at Christian weddings. It’s words evoke a deep longing in one’s innermost being, the need to belong in a special sense to others; not because of necessity; not for convenience; not out of fear, but as the beautiful verse from Hosea says (Hosea 11:4 ), tied to others with ties of love, just as the Lord binds us to himself. As I was thinking along these lines, I was intrigued to come across this quote from John Milton;

“Loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye named not good”

I quickly had to go to Genesis to read for myself the truth behind his statement and found the verse;

“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18)

We were never created to live apart from others. The Creator had decided right from the beginning, that he would instill in us a need for each other, but even so unfortunately, loneliness especially in large towns or cities, is very much a part of our present day society. To our shame it sometimes also exists within our church families. This beautiful hymn is urging us to seek out those who feel outside the circle and lovingly include them so they feel tied in to the family by love.

The other quote that speaks to this problem was made by John Wesley;

“The Bible knows nothing about solitary religion”

When we are bound together for a common cause, nothing we do for the Lord becomes a solitary effort. This is the uplifting theme of the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s valiant effort to restore Jerusalem and to help the return of the previous exiled people is a wonderful example of being bound together. Those who had returned were fragmented; terrified of their enemies; depressed about ever being able to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, but with Nehemiah’s fervent prayer(Nehemiah 1 : 5 – 11) and his absolute trust in his Mighty God and urging the people to be bound together, this was the result;

“So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart” (Nehemiah 4:6)

What are the lessons we can learn as followers of Jesus Christ from Nehemiah’s success story? Firstly the people all worked with all their heart. Secondly the lesson of unity seems to be the next powerful message here. Being bound together means being unified. Nothing can fragment any group of believer’s quicker than division and Paul urged the Philippians to be like minded and to be one in spirit and purpose. Being united often means thinking beyond self for the common goal and if our goal is to represent Jesus Christ we need to quickly quash anything that would unravel the fabric of our faith. Being united means that everybody has a place on the team; there is nobody who feels left out. Being united does not mean being forced to join a particular group, the verse from Hosea emphasizes human kindness and gentleness so we need to remember John’s words,

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God…” (1 John 4:7)

When we remember that the Lord himself has bound us to him with ties of love, we will sing with great urgency these words,

Bind us together, Lord

      Bind us together with cords

            that cannot be broken.

Bind us together , Lord

      bind us together, Lord

           bind us together in love.

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• So The Wall Was Finished (pttyann2.wordpress.com)
• Recognize the enemy. Build up your walls for the warfare! (worshipandswag.wordpress.com)
• Nehemiah (tylersheart.wordpress.com)
• Christian restoration (clydestyle.org)
• The Gates of Nehemiah – Part 1 (biblestudynotesilove.wordpress.com)