MONDAY, MARCH 30
Scripture: Nehemiah 5:1-7

Nehemiah 5:1-7 shows us another manifestation of a zah-ak, an outcry. It says, “And there was a great zah-ak /outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, ‘We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.’ There were also some who said, ‘We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.’ There were also those who said, ‘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. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.’ And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 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.” And Nehemiah was grieved because of the indebtedness of his people. Sexual sin produces an outcry, but so does debt. Crushing debt brings an outcry that demands a judicial response. We see that in Nehemiah’s day, and we are seeing it in America today. America has been brought into crushing debt by repeated poor political choices and by inept leaders, all the way up to the president. And it is time the church stood up and prayed judicially and lifted that debt from off the land. Is it possible to lift the debt off of the land? Of course it is possible! There is enough oil in America to completely pay our national debt. All things are possible to him who believes. The question is, are we willing to walk it out in covenant?