Locusts and Wild Honey

John Piper tells of an amazing experience he had earlier this week, hearing the voice of God.

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

Read the full article, The Morning I Heard the Voice of God, as Piper relates what God said, how it effected him, and whether or not this experience is available to all believers. You can also listen to the story here.

Yesterday I mentioned our Nehemiah sermon series. I want to give credit to the resources I used in sermon preparation. All of these books proved helpful as I read the pertinent sections each week. I must admit that I depended most heavily on Raymond Brown’s commentary. I often borrowed from Brown’s well worded phrases, insights, and organization. If you plan to teach, preach, or study the Book of Nehemiah you will not regret purchasing this resource.

I also enjoyed reading John White’s book. Both Packer and Boice quoted from John White on numerous occasions throughout their two works. These three, along with Getz’s bible study formatted work, appealed to more of a popular level audience while Kidner, Fensham, Breneman and Williamson took a little more of an academic approach. All of the books helped to give a well rounded treatment of Nehemiah.

• Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther: New American Commentary vol. 10 by Mervin Breneman
• Nehemiah: An Expositional Commentary by James Montgomery Boice
• The Message of Nehemiah The Bible Speaks Today - by: Raymond Brow
• The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah: The New International Commentary on the Old Testament by F. Charles Fensham
• Nehemiah : Becoming a Disciplined Leader (Men of Character) by Gene A. Getz
• Ezra And Nehemiah: An Introduction And Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series) by Derek Kidner
• A Passion for Faithfulness: Wisdom From the Book of Nehemiah by J. I. Packer
• Excellence in Leadership: Reaching Goals With Prayer, Courage & Determination by John White
• Ezra-nehemiah: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 16, by H. G. M. Williamson

I recently finished preaching through the Book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings at Lakeshore Baptist Church.

In 586 BC Nebuchadrezzar’s forces punched through the protective walls of Jerusalem and flooded the city with destruction. The Babylonian army demolished the temple, devastated the landscape, tore down homes, killed a good percentage of the inhabitants, and drug most of the residence off into captivity into a land they didn’t recognize. Nearly a century and a half later, Nehemiah learned that the walls of his ancestral city still laid in ruins. God placed a great task in the heart of Nehemiah. The strong leader sought to rebuild the devastated city under the wide canopy of God’s providence upon the sure foundation of God’s word.

The six month study led us to think about Nehemiah’s doctrine of God, his passion for scripture, his experience of prayer, and his example of leadership. No one could miss the parallels to our situation in post-Katrina Lakeshore as teams of volunteer construction workers seek to rebuild our community to the glory of God. Although we must be careful not to make illegitimate anachronistic analogies - Lakeshore is not Old Testament Jerusalem, and I am no Nehemiah - we do serve the same sovereign, omnipotent, supremely righteous, pervasively holy, humbly merciful, biblically vocal, covenant keeping God.