4 Standing on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting” “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Nehemiah 9:4 – 6, New International Version)
Theme: The Local Church
Context:
We continue our focus on the Discipline of Worship. As we did for Bible Study, Prayer, and Fasting, we turn our attention to the Old Testament story of Nehemiah to glean lessons applicable to the local church.
Bible Passage:
Today’s passage is Nehemiah 9:4 – 6 (presented above). In the passage we get to see the Levites leading in worship. This occurred approximately 4 weeks after Ezra had read the book of the Law for hours to the assembly.
Question:
What lessons can the local church extract from the attitude of the Levites to worship?
March 22, 2022 at 5:11 am
The attitude of the Levites was one of sheer, humble and passionate devotion. They are crying out with loud voices as they want all to hear and show their enthusiasm and passion. They state God’s awesomeness and worthiness to be Worshipped. The Levites remind us why we worship Him.
March 22, 2022 at 5:29 am
A lesson that can be extracted, and is really obvious, is that the worship is all about God. Totally!
The Levites are exalting God, proclaiming who He is, how great He is, and acknowledging awesome things that He has done.
There’s no doubt the Levites saw God as the ONLY true God, deserving of their total focus for worship and praise.
“Let’s forget about ourselves, concentrate on Him, and worship Him”.
March 22, 2022 at 8:44 am
The Levites showed faithfulness, true worship and love for God. They have strong desire to glorify their one true God . Their attitude of worship was one that exemplifies selflessness and a reminder to us, that our creator is powerful, majestic and worthy to be praised. Glorifying God should be our main focused if we consider ourselves privileged children of God.
March 22, 2022 at 9:09 am
I think one of the lessons we can learn here is that we should not be ashamed to worship God and declare His name publicly.
In worshipping God there is no place for pride and bashfulness, when we think of all that He has done for us, it should bring us to a place of unashamed rejoicing.
Praise be to God
March 22, 2022 at 12:22 pm
The Levites told those who were on the stairs crying out with a loud voice to the Lord, that they should praise the Lord. The Levites then led them in prayer praising God. It seems to also highlight that our focus must first be on God, our Creator. To depend on Him and not be so focused on our problems.