Our real solution today is to overcome inward battles and challenges that render us powerless to overcome.
Nehemiah 5 gives us the real solution of prioritizing the Word of God with immediate obedience.
Nehemiah 5:5, “It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”
Nehemiah 5:2, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.”
This group wanted to buy enough food just to be able to eat and stay alive. They were poor, not able to contribute to the building of the wall because they were physically bankrupt.
Nehemiah 5:3, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we may buy grain because of the famine.”
The group would be preoccupied with the fear of losing their possessions so they would not be able to contribute to the building of the wall.
Nehemiah 5:4-5, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery.”
The cause of those who were powerless were the nobles and rulers who were exacting interest. They accepted the practices of the nations that they were once captive.
Nehemiah 5:7, After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them.
The solution was to restore their ability to live abundantly.
Nehemiah 5:11, “Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money, and the grain, and the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.”