Day 27

In the reading from Nehemiah, I found myself disgusted with the Israelite’s cries for deliverance that immediately followed the recitation of their history repeatedly turning away from God, (turning their backs to God’s statutes). Although the prose is extremely humble, it almost announces that it is certainly hollow as they cry out to God again. Their cries for deliverance that God has constantly and repeatedly granted, would most certainly again be betrayed. Even though that is not what Nehemiah was pointing out to the people; after reading from the Laws of Moses to the people for an entire day, they began to weep and mourn for their past transgressions (and current state of separation from the LORD’s will) – yet Nehemiah instructed them to cease from their mourning. He instead directed them to prepare for a feast of joy. The occasion of their repentance – yet again, was occasion to rejoice, because they would once again enter into the will of God for their lives – as a nation. “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” Nehemiah 8:10
I know as I reflect on my own life, that I have been subject to a covenant relationship with God from the moment that I accepted Him as my Savior. Yet I too have a history of repeatedly turning my back on His will and way for my life. And just as with the Israelites’ history recounted by Nehemiah, I have cried out to the LORD, and He has delivered me; only for me to repeat this cycle. And I have the same internal response to this history of my life – disgust! Do I doubt the sincerity of my own intentions to truly and fully return to the Lord after a pattern in my life that suggests otherwise? Perhaps that was the real reason the Israelites went into mourning as their sins were laid bare before them. Yet Nehemiah’s response was in keeping with Jewish tradition, that weeping was not permitted for festivals set aside for rejoicing. Indeed, should we be covered in shame and despair at the moments we recognize the sin in our lives and turn away from it? Certainly, there are feelings of embarrassment when we are faced with our sinful nature. But when we see it and respond by turning once again to the LORD – despite our patterns of fleshly rebellion – then we are compelled just as Nehemiah directed the Israelites: to rejoice! Paul repeats this to the church at Corinth.
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
How much more relevant then is our consideration of the longsuffering nature of God, and His infinite patience with us. Look again at God’s revelation to Moses as He passed by while Moses hid in the cleft of the rock (mountain) to reveal His goodness:
“Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed:
Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7

As we emerge from our 40 days of prayer and fasting as a church, the LORD has revealed many things to us all. Hopefully as we have drawn closer to God, we have also recognized how far away from Him we may have been. Instead of lamenting this fact – and instead of repeating this cycle since we are now “free” from the burdens of our commitments to fast; let us rejoice in the awareness we have of what was wrong – and move forward in the fellowship God intended for us to have with Him. We know that in our weakness He is strong. How much more victorious are we when we dwell on His greatness (rejoice), rather than our own shortcomings. We may have committed to 40 days seeking God’s presence. But the LORD’s faithfulness endures to a thousand generations. It neither began, nor ended with our 40-day window.