Nehemiah 8:9 “And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.”
After rebuilding the walls about Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4), the people came together for a day-long worship service in which the Word of God received high reverence and was plainly read and explained to the people. The people began to mourn and weep “when they heard the words of the law”! The problem was that they revered the Word of God, but they now knew that they had failed to live it and obey it; thus, their hearts were broken with shame’s grief. Because our Lord is a gracious and merciful God, He “is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Numbers 14:18), the people were instructed to enjoy the blessings that the Lord had given them, to share those blessings with the needy, and to “neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Their grief and sorrow were evidence of their repentance and of their heart-felt desire to worshipfully obey the Word of God. They experienced great “joy of the LORD” when they came together to worship, to hear the Word of God declared, and to hear of the Lord’s grace and mercy toward them. The “joy of the LORD” was their “strength”; for, it empowered them spiritually and physically. With the “strength” of this blessed “joy” they could show their love toward their “LORD” by their sincere obedience to Him; and He showed His “great love” (Ephesians 2:4) to them by revealing His Holy Presence with them and blessing them so abundantly. Even today, “the joy of the LORD is” our “strength”; so, let us go to Church, worship with “joy”, and strive to obey the Word of God more sincerely!