Tobiah

Nehemiah 13. 4 “Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense”.

You might be thinking,  what has this got to do with anything!?

Bit of background Nehemiah has been trying to re-build the walls of Jerusalem, and Sambalat and Tobiah have been violently opposing him (and God too).

Yet when Nehemiah is out of the country, Eliashib the Priest, lets his mate Tobiah into the Temple (where God is worshiped) and gives him large and spacious rooms.

Nehemiah comes back, and throws this vile individual out of the temple and has the whole place re-consecrated to God.

The question is a simple one, is their a Tobiah lurking somewhere in YOUR temple?

By that I mean some area of your life where something sinful needs to be given its eviction notice..

If you end up watching things on the telly at night that cause your mind to sink to the gutter, perhaps you need to get rid of your telly?

Or maybe things you shouldn’t visit on the internet? Perhaps some new software on your computer? Perhaps an accountability partner?

If you have issues around money and generosity perhaps you need to set up a direct debit?

Don’t let the enemy get a food-hold in YOUR TEMPLE (our lives/bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit Paul reminds us)…

A Holy God does not want to co-exist with sin. Repent and throw it away.

I remember when I made a re-commitment to Christ I threw away a fair few of my CD’s and videos (shows how long ago it was) but root it out, throw it out, if it holds you back, perhaps it needs to be shown the door.

When I was doing a placement in rehab, I remember a client snapping his sim card, with all his mates, his whole life, on that phone because he knew if he was to stay sober and drug free (and alive) he needed to take tough and decisive action.

Are we brave enough to evict those things that have become settled in our lives, things that should not co-exist with a Holy God.