Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 21

For three whole weeks after being drawn to the Temple for a mass gathering of worship and listening to God’s Word, the Israelites seem to have been reflecting on their own lives and their national history in light of the Word. Suddenly all of God’s dealings with them and their ancestors started to make sense. Again, they felt drawn to gather outside the Temple, but this time they did so in a spirit of deep repentance and confession.

As the priests publically prayed through the history of Israel (v.16-38) two emphases became evident. The LORD was unspeakably good to them, treating them with generosity, kindness, and unconditional love. Yet the people were arrogant, stubborn and disobedient. As the LORD had constantly shown Himself to be a forgiving, gracious, compassionate Covenant-keeping God, slow to anger and abounding in love, the people had continued in their disobedience and rebellion.

As they prayed, the priests’ conclusion was that the tragedy of the exile was something the people had brought on themselves by their sin and that, “In all that has happened to us, You have remained righteous; You have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.” (v.33) And this was the spirit of the whole gathering. They were there, clothed in symbols of repentance (sackcloth and dust), having fasted as an expression of their repentant sorrow. This was a genuine, deep, absolute turning away from their sin and back to God. This was where true renewal and revival could begin!

Lord, create in me a repentant heart that leads me to the renewal of my walk with You. Amen.

We cannot even begin to imagine such a mighty move of God in our own day. We have become experts at justifying sin, whether in our own lives or in our society. We have become blind to our own sins and, when we do notice them, our rebellion against God is explained away hastily. So all we can do is pray with great trembling: Come Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see my sin in the light of God’s great kindness to me, and open my heart to repent in sincerity and truth. Move in my family, Church and community to release a spirit of repentance that will draw us all to Your heart of love. Amen!