August 12 – Five blessings of singleness!

August 12
Nehemiah 3:15-5:13
1 Corinthians 7:25-40
Psalm 32:1-11
Proverbs 21:5-7

Nehemiah 3:1 – The roll call of the faithful who were involved in rebuilding the walls! Pastor Wolfmueller has collected some maps to help explain what is going on:

Nehemiah 4:1 – No good deed goes unpunished! But Nehemiah has learned the lesson from the past – and intersperses the building project with prayer as we see in Nehemiah 4:4-5, and Nehemiah 4:9.

Nehemiah 4:16 – A most unusual church building campaign – we often see the story of Nehemiah used in church building campaigns but we can be thankful for the freedom of religion in America that we don’t have to be physically armed. But just because our enemies don’t threaten us physically – we are daily tempted with a perhaps more dangerous enemy that has lulled us to sleep – apathy.

Nehemiah 5:7-8 – Nehemiah is decrying the crony capitalism – the “war profiteering” of his day.  But note how he argued with them – Nehemiah 5:10 – he had the opportunity to but led by example!

1 Corinthians 7:27 – Paul’s advice seems to contradicts Ezra’s that he gave a few days ago ordering divorce. Ezra however was talking to Jewish men who were marrying unbelievers, while Paul is talking to Gentile men who became believers after they married other unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 7:28 – Having recently been married I am glad that Paul says I have not sinned! For those of you who are single – John MacArthur has preached on this passage and notes the five blessings of singleness:

• pressure of the system (1 Corinthians 7:26)
• problems of the flesh (1 Corinthians 7:28)
• passing of the world (1 Corinthians 7:29)
• preoccupation of the married (1 Corinthians 7:32)
• permanence of the union (1 Corinthians 7:39-40)

Psalm 32:1 – Read how Isaac Watts set this Psalm to music (Hymnody.org)

Psalm 32:7 – “You are my Hiding Place” is based on this verse.

Psalm 32:8 – Sally Atari recorded “Be Glad“, almost word for word from Psalm 32:8 & Psalm 32:11.

Proverbs 21:5 – Aesop memorialized this truth in his classic tale of the tortoise and the hare. Or today we are more likely to remember the Disney version: