The Land is Restored by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

As you may recall we left the story of Nehemiah last week with Nehemiah calling the people to help him rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The local officials did not think he could do it, but he had the blessing of the King. More than that, he was called by God to restore the wall. so he was sure he would accomplish the task. The Jewish people came in from the outlying countryside, the men leaving their wives to tend the fields, and they rebuilt the entire wall and all the gates in just fifty-two days.

Okay, fifty-two days is a long time when you are not getting paid for the work and you have left your farms behind, and when there is a famine. But fifty-two days for such a building project is a short time. (Just consider how long our road construction projects take.)

Near the end of the project, there was an outcry among the people. That is where we pick up our story today. You see, as I mentioned, there was a famine. The working poor who were called upon to work on the wall, were having to mortgage their homes and their fields just to eat. Some of them were mortgaging their own children as slaves, in order to survive. They were also borrowing money to pay the King’s taxes. The wealthy people who were loaning them the money were charging outrageous interest rates. All of this was legal but it was not right.

Nehemiah became furious. He called a meeting with the nobles and the officials and told them, “You are gouging your brothers.”

 He explained: “We did everything we could to buy back our Jewish brothers who had to sell themselves as slaves to foreigners [when they were overtaken by the Babylonians]. And now you’re selling these same brothers back into debt slavery! Does that mean that we have to buy them back again?”

They said nothing. What could they say?

⁹ “What you’re doing is wrong. Is there no fear of God left in you? Don’t you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you?

Give them back their foreclosed fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes right now. And forgive your claims on their money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.”

^12-13 They said, “We’ll give it all back. We won’t make any more demands on them. We’ll do everything you say.”

Their fields were restored. The economic balance was restored. Justice was restored for the people. You see, these were Jews, wealthy and poor who were pitted against one another in an economic war. One group was thriving and the other was not making it.

Nehemiah made them see that they were all brothers and sisters as Jews. They had been through a terrible time when they had been taken over by the Babylonians. They had been made slaves and been made to live in exile. They had survived this terrible time in their lives. Now was the time for them to come together and rebuild and have a good future together.

And so the rich saw that he was right. They realized they did not have to gouge the poor and charge them such horrible interest rates. They could live together with economic justice. That is what God wants – a world where we all live with economic justice and balance.

So I wonder, what Nehemiah would say about our world if he were here today. If he looked at how we treat one another, and how we deal with our finances, what would he say about us? I believe if Nehemiah were living here today he would be concerned about the economic inequalities in our world. He would be concerned about the 1% of the wealthy holding 46% of the world’s assets, and 2/3 of the world’s adults holding less than 3% of global wealth. There is an imbalance there.

On a more local level, I believe Nehemiah would be really angry with the pay-day loan companies and the credit card companies and the interest rates they charge. These two institutions are perfectly legal but they take advantage of customers who are desperate, much like the wealthy did in Nehemiah’s day. The pay-day loan companies and the credit card companies make it almost impossible for a person to get out of the cycle of debt once a person has begun to borrow money.

I am willing to bet that most of us have fallen prey to one or the other of these institutions. The average American household with at least one credit card had nearly $16,000 in credit-card debt (in 2012), according to CreditCards.com, (Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/ lesson9/index.htm).

Why do we borrow money on credit cards and from pay day loans? I don’t know anyone suffering from famine in Toledo.  But sometimes we have legitimate emergencies. We have unexpected health care costs. We have car repairs or home repairs and we don’t have money set aside in savings to take care of them. These are realities. True enough.

But sometimes, we run up debt buying things that we want that we simply cannot afford. We get caught up in the American consumer culture, myself included. I make that confession here. We want it NOW. We don’t want to wait. We want to take that trip NOW. We don’t want to wait. We deserve this. And yes, we probably do. But the fact is, if we don’t have the money, we need to wait.

But the TV ads, the internet, the magazines all tell us, we need this thing NOW. We need it to be beautiful. We need it to be successful or because it will make our home more wonderful.

The truth is, there are very few things we NEED. And mostly things we WANT. Now, if any of you own a pay-day loan company or a credit card company, I believe the message of this scripture for you is this: be just in your business practices. Lower your interest rates and treat your customer as you would treat your brother or sister.

But I am pretty sure none of you own a pay-day loan company or a credit card company. So what does this scripture say to the rest of us? It says that God wants economic balance for us in our lives. God does not want us to be in debt so that all we do is worry about money.  Worry is evil. Some debt is okay. Many people are going to have a home mortgage. That’s not what we’re talking about here.

We’re talking about debt that weighs us down. If we have credit cards, and can’t pay off the balance each month we may need to ask ourselves, “Are our personal finances in balance? Am I living within my means, or I am getting sucked into the American consumer culture?”

You see, one of the biggest causes of stress in the United States is financial stress. Financial stress can affect your health. It can affect your marriage or other relationships. God does not want us to live burdened with stress.

God wants us to be free. That is why Nehemiah said to the ones holding the mortgages: “forgive your brothers, the debts that they owe you.” They had the power to set their brothers and sisters free.

My friends, God gives us the power to be free. We can be free from the worry of debt. It takes time and perseverance but we can do it, with God’s help.

So what do we need to do? If you believe you need to get your financial house in order, start with writing down everything you spend money on for a month. You will be surprised at how much you learn by this exercise. Then make yourself a budget and live within it. Be ruthless with yourself.

Kurt and I did this a few years ago. We had let our credit card debt run up. We took a course in money management. We kept track of every penny we spent. In a couple of years’ time we were able to pay off our debts and build up more savings that we had ever had before. It felt really good.

Another thing you can do is to meet with a financial advisor. I know one I can refer you to who will not charge you a penny for an initial consult, and he will help you create a family budget if you can’t do this on your own.

You also might want to talk with Karen Shepler. Sometime in the next few months she hopes to teach a class for us called “Faith and Finance” that will help the participants get their finances in order.

Finally, it is always good to pray. Ask God to help you find economic balance in your life.

Nehemiah heard the cries of the people when they said they were struggling financially. He went to those who had the power and insisted that they make some changes. My friends, we have power over our own economic lives. We have the power to make different choices. We have power to get out of debt. It takes time, discipline and prayer but we can do it. And I believe economic justice starts with economic balance at home.

So let’s ask God to help us. God, we give our money and our money decisions to you. Help us to restore economic balance at home. Amen.