Do you ever feel like you are drifting in life?

Like life is more happening to you instead of you happening to life?

No one wakes up and decides to let their marriage go cold. Nobody schedules the credit card debt. No one puts “become a stranger to my kids” on the calendar.

Drifting doesn’t just happen. It happens in the whirlwind of life. It happens while we’re busy with work, homework, doctor’s appointments, caring for aging parents, the season that was supposed to slow down and never did.

Then one day you look up and ask a question you didn’t see coming. How did I get here?

If you made goals in January, you already know the feeling. It’s almost October. Most of us are nowhere near where we hoped we’d be. Not because we quit or gave up, but because we never decided, and the whirlwind decided for us.

So how do you take hold of your life instead of letting life happen to you?

One of the things I love about preaching through books of the bible is how you begin to see the details in the verses. 

In Nehemiah 10, we often skim this chapter in our Bible reading plans because it opens with 84 names. It includes the governor, priests, Levites, and heads of families. Then it lists a set of commitments that sound impossibly specific. Wood for the altar. A tenth of the produce. An eighth of an ounce of silver.

If you take a step back and look at what came before this, we see in chapter 8 that the book of the law was read aloud, and they saw who God is and who they were. In chapter 9, they confessed. And at the end of chapter 9, having just rehearsed that God is gracious, compassionate, abounding in faithful love, and that he will never leave them. They respond by making a vow. 

I define a vow as A choice to live intentionally in a direction, no matter what.

Their commitments came down to three areas. These are the ones that we drift in the most: relationships, pace, and money. And as we’ll see, they revolve around our trust in God. 

Relationships. They committed to marrying within the faith. 

We underestimate the power of the person we marry, but marrying someone is the most important human decision you will make. It determines not only your faith, but where you live, who you spend time with, how you will spend your money, and the person who will help you raise your kids and what their faith looks like. It shapes everything else that follows. 

Not only that, whoever is closest to you shapes what you believe about God. If the person closest to you is so passionate and on fire for God, that will impact you. If the person closest to you is indifferent or lacks interest in their faith, that will impact you. And you do the same for others. 

Rest. They committed to shut their businesses down on the Sabbath and let their fields lie fallow every seventh year. This isn’t simply about schedules but is ultimately about trust. When we rest, we are affirming that we are not God, that we have limits. That God is at work while we sleep and ultimately, he will provide and care for us. 

Money. They committed to give back to God. The way we talk about this at our church is that giving should be done regularly, sacrificially, proportionally, and worshipfully. Not what was left over. What was first. Too many times, we give back to God at the end of all things, instead of at the beginning. And this is an act of worship, no matter when we give. We show what matters if we give to God first or if we give to God last. 

They decided before the moment came.

Before the feelings showed up, they’d settled who they’d marry. Before the week filled in, they’d settled when they’d stop. Before the purchase, they’d settled what they’d give.

That’s the whole thing. One decision made ahead of time makes the next hundred for you. Willpower in the moment is a terrible strategy, and the whirlwind will beat it every time. A commitment made in advance helps you at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday when you’re tired.