“You, LORD, are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and all the stars of heaven worship you.” (Nehemiah 9:6)
What are some of your favorite stories to follow? Do you like mystery, true crime, romance, or comedy? Do you see God working in those characters?
By the time of the events in Nehemiah 9, Nehemiah, an Israelite official working for the Persian government, returns to Jerusalem to help rebuild its walls after Israel was exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. Nehemiah also encourages Israel to renew their covenant with God through prayer: a storytelling of God’s character, and through confession of their sins. In this prayer, we see God’s faithfulness over the generations despite the sins of his chosen people and their confession of sin.
However, this prayer and covenant do not erase Israel’s sins. No prayer or any act we do can save ourselves from God’s judgment, as we see later in Nehemiah 13. The same people who confessed their sin turned away from God. The real issue is our hearts.
If we can’t save ourselves, where is our hope? Jesus. He’s the atonement of our sins through his death and resurrection (Heb. 2:17). Because of Jesus, we are no longer dead in our sin, but have new life in him. He has made us righteous to God (Rom. 3:22; 5:22-25).
What can we learn from a prayer like this, knowing our hope is in Christ? How should we respond? When you meet with your church community group, share evidences of God’s grace in your prayers. Confess your sin to God, through a trusted brother or sister who keeps you accountable. Include these testimonies and confessions into your daily prayer life.
Let’s pray that we will remember God’s goodness and his grace, that he will use us to tell stories of his faithfulness so that God would be glorified and more would come to know Jesus through these stories and our lives.