created to serve

There's a Bob Dylan song that speaks to the inevitable need to serve someone, some-thing. One of the stanzas reads like this:

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Who are we serving? Who are we slaves to? What are we slaves to? Do we even know....do you even know?

After the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah gathers the people of Jerusalem and calls to memory their history as a nation through freedom and captivity. To that extent, their history ended with their present condition:

"But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you [God] gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our great sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress"

Having rebuilt the walls of the city, the people had a moment to reflect on their position and realize that the very land which God had given them and intended for their joy and His glory was now subject to other kings which had stepped in when Israel rejected their true king, The Lord. Nature abhors a vacuum. A people/a person will be subject to someone or something. The fruit of our harvest will be given to something. Where? Who? A man, a thing, or its creator?

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." [joshua 24:15]

you're gonna have to serve somebody...