Nehemiah 10

“Then the rest of the people – the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, Temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the Law of God, together with their wives, sons, daughters, and all who were old enough to understand – joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the Law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our Lord:” Nehemiah 10:28-29 NLT

Two thoughts stood out to me in these verses. The first is that, in order to obey the Law of God, the Jews understood that they needed to separate themselves from the pagan people of the land. They realized that in order for their conversion to be real, they needed to separate themselves from the course and customs of the world and devote themselves to conduct that was directed towards the word of God.

The second thought is that when we bind ourselves to do the commandments of God, it is a promise to carefully follow all of His commandments. We do not pick the easier ones for us to follow, but all of them.

In our walk with the King of kings, may we also separate ourselves from the customs of this world and carefully follow all of the commands, regulations, and decrees set out by the Lord.