Nehemiah 9
My wife and I have grown up and now live together in northern Virginia. If you have spent more than a week in our stomping grounds, you will understand how bipolar the weather can be. Last weekend we were running in 80-degree weather and then Monday I was hunting turkeys while getting snowed on. The one thing I do love about this time of year is we start to get a taste of those summer nights. You know what I’m talking about. 75 degrees, windows down, and country music blaring down back roads. It’s on these drives that I enter the throne room and get to work with the Lord. A quarter of the drive I’m thinking about scripture, a quarter I am confessing sin & worshipping, and the other half of my attention is spent trying to stay on the road (Neh. 9:3).
We need to understand the context of what’s going on here. Nehemiah heard about his people who entered back into their land. He was grieved and asked to return to Jerusalem to put things in order. They rebuild the wall and in chapter 8 are revived by the Word of God. The people are now becoming obedient to God’s law because they are devoted to Him.
It is interesting what happens when you truly confess sin and receive God’s forgiveness. I’m not talking about the moment you prayed the sinner’s prayer and were saved. I’m talking about the Tuesday evening when you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and you get on your knees and ask God to forgive you of your sin. What happens is you feel this overwhelming sense of God’s mercy on you. When you reflect on your life you see God’s mercy all over the place. From childhood to adulthood to parenting to grandparenting, God’s mercy is in every season of your life.
When you understand God’s justice system, you understand that God using Babylon to judge Judah was His mercy. He was cleansing the idolatry from the land of Israel and still had a plan for them instead of completely wiping them out. Nehemiah goes back through the major events in the history of God using Israel and if you look carefully, you will see a pattern. God works, Israel is amazed, Israel forgets, Israel sins, God warns & judges, Israel repents, God works and then the cycle starts over again. What do we notice about God through all of this? He is a patient, forgiving, & long-suffering God. Read the latter half of Nehemiah 9:17 with me, “But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.” Make that last verse personal. Through your whole life of ups and downs in your relationship with God you have been the one changing. Not him. He has not forsaken you. Let that Truth sink in. I don’t know what your thing is, but maybe you need to go on a windows down long country road drive and approach the throne of grace with confidence. Don’t delay. Read God’s Word, confess sin, and worship Him today.