Keeping Out Compromise

I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign, though I later asked his permission to return. When I arrived back in Jerusalem, I learned about Eliashib’s evil deed in providing Tobiah with a room in the courtyards of the Temple of God. I became very upset and threw all of Tobiah’s belongings out of the room. Nehemiah 13:6-8

THE FINAL CHAPTER of Nehemiah tells of his return to Jerusalem a few years after going back to Persia to resume his service to King Artaxerxes. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he found that a non-Israelite pagan named Tobiah had been given a place to work in the Temple. He also discovered that because the people were not giving their offerings, the Levites, who were supposed to carry out duties at the Temple, had to go out and work in the fields so they could eat. The people were treating the Sabbath like any other day of doing business.

Years before, the people had agreed to a costly separation from pagan wives. But upon his return, Nehemiah found that sadly, once again, Jews had married women of Ashdon, Ammon, and Moab. They had become so enmeshed in those godless cultures and religions that their children no longer spoke the language of Judah.

Nehemiah was a bit like a parent who comes home from a trip to discover that a wild party had been held at the house while he or she was gone. Clearly all of the rules he set in place and the provisions he made for his people to love and follow God had been forgotten. When Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem, it became clear that the wall he built couldn’t keep out the compromise that had recontaminated God’s people.

Likewise, we as parents can’t build a wall high enough or strong enough to keep out the compromise that is always trying to make its way into our home and into our hearts. We can’t provide the ongoing energy for our children to persist and grow in their pursuit of pleasing God. They need a better restorer. And they have one in Christ.

Lord, you know my heart for ________ to walk in your ways. You have heard my prayers. You have witnessed my work. But ________ is ultimately your child. And ________ needs much more than a godly parent. ________ needs you to keep her from compromise.