Blessing or burden?
But the earlier governors—those preceding me— placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine.
Nehemiah 5:15
🏔The governors placed a heavy burden on the people. They took the forty shekels of silver that was allotted to them. In addition to that, they took food and wine.
🤴A governor is given to govern the people and the country. A governor is to help the people lead a better life. He is meant to be a blessing to the people.
💰 But , the governors became selfish and became a burden to the people. The love for money and comfort turned them into burdens.
🚢 Jonah - a burden on the ship
🙏🏻God wanted Jonah to be a blessing to Nineveh. He wanted them to come to salvation through Jonah. But Jonah did not want that. He boarded a ship that went to Tarshish.
As Jonah failed to do the will of God ,the ship was about to be destroyed.
🏔 Jonah who was called to be a blessing became a burden to the ship.
Jonah was selfish. He did not want his enemy country(Nineveh) to repent when his own country was in sin.
This selfish attitude caused him to become a burden and not a blessing.
Application
🙏🏻 God wants us to be a blessing in the place where He has placed us.
🙏🏻 When we do the will of God, we become a blessing.
🏔 But when we become self-seeking, we become a burden to others.
👩 A wife meant to be a blessing to the husband, becomes a burden when she demands worldly things and comforts for her own interest.
👩👧👦A mother meant to be a blessing to the children becomes a burden when she neglects to take care of them as she is busy with her own interests.
❓Are we a blessing or burden to those around us?
❓Are we doing the will of God or
❓Are we self seeking?
🙏🏻 May we be a blessing and not a burden to those around us!
