READING: Nehemiah 9
It’s just one primary verse that nails me today, but let me give you some background first.
These chapters speak recurrently of the grace of God, a God who continually loved His people compassionately even after they ignored Him. He called Abraham and gave His people the land by driving out their enemies. He heard their cries at the Red Sea and “hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into the mighty waters” (Neh 9:11). He spoke to them on Mt. Sinai, gave them bread from heaven, and quenched their thirst with water from the rock.
The people still did not obey Him — yet He did not turn His back on them. He was compassionate and gracious, and He did not “desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god’” (Neh 9:17-18). He gave them the land, driving out their enemies as their warrior, but they remained disobedient.
Finally, God gave them over to the enemies — and the pattern went on and on. The people sinned. God called them to repentance. They remained in rebellion. God still, though, didn’t give up on them, granting them deliverers, warning them through prophets, keeping His “covenant of love” to them (Neh 9:32). He was always righteous and faithful, even while the people acted wickedly (Neh 9:33).
That brings us, then, to the verse that nails me: “Even while they [God’s people] were in their kingdom, enjoying your [God’s] great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways” (Neh 9:35).
God has been really, really good to me. I enjoy His goodness every day in the spacious and fertile land He has given me. I wonder, though, how many times I accept His blessings while still clinging to my wicked ways. In the light of His goodness, my sin becomes that much darker.
God forgive me.
ACTION STEPS:
- Rehearse your own spiritual journey, remembering all the times God has granted you mercy.
- If you’re too comfortably receiving God’s blessings, ask His forgiveness today.
PRAYER: “God, we again pray with Your people, ‘Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord.’”
TOMORROW’S READING: Nehemiah 10-11