Nehemiah and the Lottery
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I'm really enjoying this new series entitled "Building the City of God" Its based on the Book of Nehemiah. Last week we were looking at the challenge of wrestling with the burden of a call. ( If your interested you can download the podcasts from itunes. Go to www.standonline.org.uk This week I'm thinking about how Nehemiah unreservedly embraced the generosity of the Persian King. He didn't say, "Sorry King, your not allowed to help. Your not a Jew. Your money would contaminate the Holy City." Got me thinking about, what is a proper biblical approach say to taking lottery money, or applying for a grant from lottery money?
I must confess that in the past I've always been a wee bit "sniffy" about applying for the lottery cash, but reading Chapter 2 of Nehemiah, has caused me to think. If Nehemiah can take money from the King of Babylon who had stolen the people of Israel, taken them into exile, robbed the Temple of its wealth, and generally made his fortune through rape and pillage. Maybe just maybe there might be something in this idea that you can take money from whatever source and redeem it. Lets hear what you have to say.
