There is nothing more fun than to watch a parade of happy, celebrating people march by—especially if they throw small gifts of candy!  The joy is increased when it is your kids and grandkids marching, playing instruments, holding banners, or singing and dancing in the parade!  Equally exciting and even more moving is to see flash mobs of people come from different directions and move in together in a central location, such as a mall, to praise God with beautiful songs from their hearts. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and thought how pleasing this must be to God.  My heart is moved by praise!

I love You Lord, And I lift my voice, To worship You, O my soul rejoice
Take joy my King, In what You hear, May it be a sweet, sweet sound In Your ear

Flash mobs of singers and parades of celebrating people, you must know, are meticulously planned before they are presented.  They don’t just happen!  We learn from Nehemiah’s journal of the planned presentation of a parade of praise designed to give God all the glory for all He had done for His people as they trusted and obeyed Him in restoring the wall of Jerusalem.  The strength of the newly built wall was tested as Nehemiah and Ezra led two choirs of voices with talented musicians, marching to the top.  They majestically came together in the middle from opposite directions as they sang praises God with all their hearts, minds, and souls with thanksgiving.  Trumpets were sounded, instruments played, as taught by King David, man of God, long ago.  This planned “flash mob of musicians” must have been magnificent to see and hear!  How it must have honored God!  We can imagine the smile of God on His people below the walls as they joined the singing in this planned parade of praise!  His People and The Wall restored—all glory given to God!

Nehemiah 12

Priests and Levites

These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua:  Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,² Amariah, Malluk, Hattush,³ Shekaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,⁴ Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,⁵ Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah,⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah.

These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Joshua.

⁸ The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and also Mattaniah, who, together with his associates, was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood opposite them in the services.

¹⁰ Joshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.

¹² In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families:

of Seraiah’s family, Meraiah; of Jeremiah’s, Hananiah;¹³ of Ezra’s, Meshullam; of Amariah’s, Jehohanan;¹⁴ of Malluk’s, Jonathan; of Shekaniah’s, Joseph;¹⁵ of Harim’s, Adna; of Meremoth’s, Helkai;¹⁶ of Iddo’s, Zechariah; of Ginnethon’s, Meshullam;¹⁷ of Abijah’s, Zikri; of Miniamin’s and of Moadiah’s, Piltai;¹⁸ of Bilgah’s, Shammua; of Shemaiah’s, Jehonathan;¹⁹ of Joiarib’s, Mattenai;of Jedaiah’s, Uzzi;²⁰ of Sallu’s, Kallai; of Amok’s, Eber;²¹ of Hilkiah’s, Hashabiah;of Jedaiah’s, Nethanel.

²² The family heads of the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, as well as those of the priests, were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The family heads among the descendants of Levi up to the time of Johanan son of Eliashib were recorded in the book of the annals. ²⁴ And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their associates, who stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.

²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates. ²⁶ They served in the days of Joiakim son of Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest, the teacher of the Law.

Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

²⁷ At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. ²⁸ The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰ When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.

³¹ I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³ along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ as well as some priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakkur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶ and his associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani—with musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the teacher of the Law led the procession. ³⁷ At the Fountain Gate they continued directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the site of David’s palace to the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸ The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people—past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, ³⁹ over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. At the Gate of the Guard they stopped.

⁴⁰ The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, ⁴¹ as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets— ⁴² and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. ⁴³ And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

⁴⁴ At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. ⁴⁵ They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the musicians and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the musicians and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In this meticulous plan of praise; each person had a task to do.  The result was the harmony of people coming together to make beautiful music!  God uses many people with different gifts and skills to accomplish His work. When we give ourselves as an offering to the Lord in surrender to HIS will and plan; God makes us as His instruments  in His work. Each person is important and each task is significant.  Are we willing, as Jesus taught us, to set aside our own agendas and interests, to be used by God? Do we live with expectant hope and grateful hearts for the One who saved us? Do we declare the glory of God with our lives so others will know Him?

To know God and His will begins with surrender. Paul explains how this works;

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Before we lead parades of praise we must surrender to His good, pleasing and perfect will so the praise is purely for God and not ourselves.

Worshippers on the Wall were heard from miles away!  The Jews were accustomed to having workers and watchers on the walls of Jerusalem, but now Nehemiah and Ezra assigned people to be worshipers on the walls!  Notice, take note—they didn’t worship the wall or the talented builders; the people worshiped God alone!

Before we can bring our material gifts to the Lord, we must first give ourselves to Him.  Our gifts cannot be a substitute for ourselves.  “Seek first God,” “Surrender,” “Fix your attention on God,” “Trust God and His plan!”  All these are nuggets of gold to treasure in our thoughts as walk humbly with our God as Jesus-redeemed people of God.  True worship involves heeding God’s commands over mere rituals. This principle is echoed in other scriptures, like Jeremiah 7:23 and John 14:15, which link obedience with our love for God with a desire to follow His ways.

Remember the downfall of King Saul?  As he became filled with pride and arrogance,  ignoring God’s guidance, Samuel, God’s prophet and priest, gave him God’s words often in effort to bring the king back to God.  In response; “Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams'”. 1 Samuel 15:22

Lord,

We cannot earn nor do we deserve your salvation. Yet, You so loved so deeply that You gave salvation as a gift to all who would believe. 

I believe. Now, I surrender. I give myself back to you to be used as an instrument of your praise and a flexible vessel of service in your work as You see fit.  Thank you for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, and restoring our souls with your Word and Your Holy Spirit. Thank you for continually restoring the joy of your salvation at work within us. May our lives be a constant parade of praise to You!  To you be all glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen