You Are On A Pilgrimage – CAC Living Water Devotionals

CAC Living Water Daily Devotional 18th December 2021 – You Are On A Pilgrimage

DATE: Saturday, December 18, 2021. International Migrants Day.

TOPIC: YOU ARE ON A PILGRIMAGE

READ: Nehemiah 2:1-6

[1]And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

[2]Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

[3]And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

[4]Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

[5]And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

[6]And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

MEMORISE: The king, beside whom the queen was sitting, asked me, How long will your journey take, and when will you return? So it pleased [him] to send me; and I set him a time. (Nehemiah 2:6)

EXPOSITION

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Is it not mysterious that one would embark on a journey that one knows not when it would end? Can someone actually be on a trip he/she is unaware of its terminal point? An answer to these is what the Holy Spirit wants to communicate to us today, which commemorates International Migrants Day.

Nehemiah providentially became the kings cupbearer in Shushan palace of the foreign land of Persia that succeeded the Babylonian empire which exiled the Jews (Neh.1v1). The report of the ruins and devastations of his country home, Israel was brought to him, and this made him so sorrowful and his countenance so unattractive that the king had to ask him about his worries (2v2). Having let the king know what bothered him, Nehemiah was graciously granted permission to travel to Jerusalem to remedy the situation as he had wished. When the king asked him, How long will your journey be? And when will you return?* Nehemiah set him a time he would return to his services.

Conversely, you definitely don't know the actual time your sojourn here on earth will end. Do you know the actual time you will return to Your Maker? It is a mystery that no one knows his death-day, talk less of the exact type and place of death (cf.Lk.12v20). However, we are privy to the reality and certainty of the end brought through death!

Death shouldn't be dreaded than what happens after it-judgement (Heb 9v27). You are on an assignment here on earth that you don't have all the time to carry out. There is a set time to leave (Eccl.3v2). We must therefore be fast at what He gives us to do individually and corporately (Jn.9:4).

What do you do with the 'short' time (cf.2.pet.3v8)allotted to you? Frivolities and unnecessary distractions have taken so many people time that they no longer have time for God and His purposes for them. Take an exception to this. Invest your life entirely to place God and do well to all men (1 Cor. 10:31). May we end well.

PRAYER POINTS:

1. Lord, help me to be wise on my earthly pilgrimage.

2. Lord Jesus, help me to rid myself of all frivolities and distractions that can make my sojourn here a waste.

3. Pray for our aged ones that God should help them to be fully prepared to meet Him at their different appointed times.

EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Hosea 12:11 - 14:9, Joel 1:1 - 2:14, Revelation 6:14 - 7:17