In my house we don't necessarily have assigned jobs. That is to say that both my wife and I are willing to do just about any job that needs to be done around the house. Having said this, there are certain jobs that I do, and certain jobs that she does most of the time. One of those jobs is the laundry.
As a young man I learned to do the laundry from my father, and while in college I did all my own laundry, and so when I got married, I figured I would continue helping with/doing the laundry. I would often put as much laundry into the washer as I could fit (I figured less loads was a good thing) and then since there were a lot of clothes in the wash I would fill the cup to the top with detergent. After the washer had completed its cycle, I would move the clothes into the dryer, set it to its highest heat setting (because that dries so much faster), and let it do its thing. Once the clothes were sufficiently dry I would remove them and go about the task of folding. Many times I didn't quite know how to fold my wife's clothes, or where to put them, but I tried my best. It went on this way, for nearly two years of marriage before my wife finally asked me (very nicely) NEVER to do the laundry again!
It turned out that she didn't appreciate my filled to capacity washer loads (along with way too much detergent), she wasn't a fan of the dryer shrinking and ruining her clothes because I dried them on the wrong setting, and she especially disliked the way I folded and then "hid" her clothes! I remember apologizing many times for this miscommunication and exclaiming "if only I had known!"
"If only I had known!" I'm sure you've said or thought this a time or two yourself. The people of Israel were likely saying it as well while Ezra was reading the law to them (found in Nehemiah). The book of Nehemiah, is primarily concerned with telling the story of how the people (returning from exile in Babylon) rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem and re-established the capital city as the home of God's people. Having said this, the passage linked above speaks to not the physical renewal of the city of Jerusalem, but the spiritual renewal that also needed to take place within the lives of the people living in that city.
The people spent several (read 5-7) hours being read to from the law (the first five books in of the Bible). Throughout that reading there were likely several places where the people realized they were not in accordance with God's law (Nehemiah 8:9 says that the people were moved to tears and were mourning). If the story of Nehemiah is followed beyond the above passages, we can find that in chapter 9 the people are instructed to confess and repent of their sins.
This lesson is not merely a history lesson, or an interesting story, but truly is a lesson that can be applied for us today. Instead of quoting hours worth of biblical laws, I would like to direct your attention to one in particular (Matthew 5:21-22). This passage deals with Jesus' teaching regarding anger, and his assertion that simply being angry with another person makes us liable to judgment.
In the next few minutes, I would like you to ask God for spiritual renewal. As you're asking for this renewal, realize that in order for renewal to really become a reality in your life, you need to remove the junk that's in the way. Think of a person that you've been angry with in the past (could be recent or long ago), then ask God to forgive YOU for being angry with that person.
Anger can take hold of our lives, and control us. If we are to truly become new creations, and live as the people we are called to be, we must remove those obstacles and things that burden us. I would invite you to start small, and ask God to forgive your past anger, and liberate you from that burden. I no longer try to do the laundry in my house, becuase now I know that my "help" is not so helpful. Hopefully now you've begun to realize that whether for a good reason, or not, anger is not only, not so helpful, but it can actually cause you harm.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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