Week 22: Accountability
Weekly Reading:
Nehemiah 8 - Job 12
Opening Prayer
Father God,
You are our God, our Lord, our Creator and worthy of praise. We praise You for all that You provide and withhold, we praise You for Your provision of our needs. We ask that You open our hearts and minds to Your message to us today.
Amen
Study
We are all accountable to someone or something, but what is accountability? It is the obligation to take responsibility for one’s actions or the obligation to answer to someone else of authority or to someone who depends on you.
As well, we are all accountable for our decisions and behaviors, not only to others but also to the community, society, and our Heavenly Father.
We know people who have a high sense of accountability, sometimes referred to as rule-followers or people-pleasers, or someone with the gold standard. What do these people have in common? They have a great combination of behavior and judgment, are highly disciplined, and have high integrity. But we all have this ability. Think about our relationships with others and one relationship where you are accountable and you feel a great sense of responsibility: typically a marriage, motherhood, or to our parents.
Nehemiah called the Israelites back to God. In Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah called Ezra to read to the people the book of laws so that they will be aware of God’s law for his people. The people felt a strong sense of accountability and began to weep realizing the depths of their sin. Nehemiah instructed the people to stop weeping and to go celebrate their newfound knowledge.
The family leaders and Ezra began to study the law learning that they needed to reenact certain festivals that were unrecognized while in exile. The people were led to confess their sins, once again being held accountable to God.
The people were led to make a promise in writing to obey the Law of God (Nehemiah 9:38 and 10:28–39). Nehemiah continued to hold the Israelites accountable as more and more of the Law revealed itself including the decree against the Ammonite and Moabite people entering the Assembly of God.
Nehemiah continued to hold people accountable for small and big things, calling out to God to remember his deeds (Nehemiah 13:14 and 31).
Nehemiah held himself and others accountable to God‘s Law. We are also required to hold each other accountable.
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 NLT
“So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.” Ephesians 4:25 NLT
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 NLT
“And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 NLT
We are all accountable to God and our actions should portray this.
Closing Prayer
Father God,
You are supreme and we strive to be obedient to You. We know that sometimes we slip, we falter, and we fall short of expectations. Father God, we thank You for holding us accountable to Your will as Your will is perfect. Thank You for Your grace.
Amen
Homework
To what or whom are you accountable?
What do you find easy or difficult in your accountability? Do you find it difficult to be held accountable to God?
