Nehemiah 9:6-38 CONTRASTS A gracious and merciful God: As the people of Israel were gathered and heard the word of the Lord read to them and worshipped, it was a normal response to the will of God revealed through the word, to face themselves in the presence of divine holiness. The word of God read carefully and the sense of it given in context, often precedes prayer. The word awakens the soul to what is real, lasting and important. The things with which we have been occupied then seems trivial and insignificant in the light of a consciousness of God as real and involved in the lives of His people. It was then they Lord's people began to pray and acknowledge the Person and work of God on behalf of them as a nation of people who had been called by Him to be different.
It is to be hoped that the Lord's people today realize that our relationship with the Lord God is real, and He is to be feared and reverenced among us. To approach Him in prayer is a holy practice not entered into with a casual attitude like we would have with contemporaries of the same status in life. Even though we have received "the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba Father," that doesn't give us license to approach and address Him with any kind of disrespect or familiarity. "Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone," gives us a sense of the uniqueness of our heavenly Father.
The One to whom we speak in prayer is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth. Supreme authority over everything is His alone. He created all things and "by Him do all things consist." He had created the universe and maintains everything in it order by the power of His own word. He is eternal in His Person and His existence. Without a beginning and without an end, He lives in an eternal "now" and has an orderly plan that He allows us to catch a glimpse of in the scriptures.
He is the Sovereign God who has the right to do what He wants, when He wants, with whoever He wants, for whatever purpose He wants. He knows who is willing to believe in Him and chooses to save them by His grace. He sets up kings and kingdoms and has the right to put them down. He appoints those who lead His people, and He knows who will obey His word and keep His laws. He knows everything and everybody, He chooses those who will do His will to represent Him in each generation. He saves us from hell and for heaven by His mercy and grace. He keeps those who trust Him from falling, and when they are in times of opposition and pressure to compromise, "He is near unto all that call upon Him."
Our God is a compassionate Lord who has experienced suffering Himself and is able to help those who pass through times of suffering because He has already been there Himself. He was troubled in His soul as He looked forward to the cross and all He would go through there when "He made His soul and offering for sin." He was troubled in His spirit as He thought of one who would betray Him and of the end of such a person. He was troubled in His body when He was on the cross in pain and physical agony bearing our sins that He might bring us to God. But then when speaking to those who belonged to Him by faith, He said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me."
The holiness of God is a character trait of the One who said, "Be ye holy for I am holy." He is perfect in holiness. His law gave the standard of perfection that is consistent with His character and is the template of that which he desires in us. This righteous standard reveals our imperfection and sinfulness. It is "our schoolmaster to bring us to God," in our need and lack of righteousness. When we admit to that need and accept His gracious provision because of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, we are granted the righteousness of the One who is our substitute.
As the children of Israel continued in their prayer of adoration and worship, they remembered events in their past and the unmistakable evidence of God's presence with them in their national history. We do well to review God's ways with us as we journey through life surrounded by temptations and snares from the world, the flesh and the devil. Like they said in their prayer, so we too know God to be a forgiving God who is willing to forgive those who confess their sin and forsake that which is wrong. As a gracious God, they, and we, know that we do not deserve the least of His mercies but His grace gives us that which we are helpless to get or do for ourselves. He is to be trusted because He is "faithful and just." There is nothing at all unfair about our God.
Those who prayed together in the street in Jerusalem were reminded of God's power to subdue their enemies and give them an inheritance. He delivered them by His power. He fed them by His power and gave them water by His power. He opened the way into the promised land by His power and made it possible for them to claim every place where they put their feet by His power. They were protected by His power from enemies and even disasters as long as they were willing to obey and serve Him.
God is a just God in His dealings with us and in His decisions and judgments. He allowed judgments to fall on His people to bring repentance and open the way to recovery to fellowship with Him. He is a patient God who gave warnings through prophets of coming judgment if there wasn't a return to Him by faith and obedience. He still is patient with us knowing that we are only frail, mortal men. He is consistent in keeping His promises even when there is opposition to His will. He keeps His covenants in spite of our failures. He can be called upon by anyone with a pure heart and is "ready to pardon." He is always true to His word.
People who hardened their necks: In contrast to the wonders of God's person and work on behalf of His people, is the attitude and actions of those who He called to be His people. "To whom much is given, much is required" makes those who have been blessed with spiritual blessings as well as temporal blessings much more responsible to obey God and live by faith in Him, than those around us who really know nothing about God except through their senses. We have been given such privileges that when we take them for granted or treat them with disdain or dishonor, we are actually seeking to demean a holy God to being one who should do all this for us because we demand it. What dishonor! What disrespect! What a disgrace on our part!
Like those Jews in the past who finally faced up to their sins, we need to be reminded of who we are and where we came from. In the prayer of those people they faced themselves and their forbearers and saw themselves for what they really were. Willfulness and stubbornness are characteristics of the old nature with which we have been born. By nature, we want our own way in spite of what we have been taught by those who want the best for us. Deceitfulness has become a part of the way of life in the world today, but this is not new. The Israelites and everyone else had the same character fault. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked."
Disobedience to authority is bad enough, but disobedience to the Almighty Lord God is absolutely inexcusable. "They were disobedient" was a statement of fact in relations to the Israelites in the and their children knew it, but they also had to face their own disobedience as do we. To disobey God is to reject His right to be our Lord. Unthankful people have characterized every generation to this present moment. People accept every blessing as if we have a right to it, own it and got it for ourselves. "Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above..."
Today, as in the past, people and nations are covenant breakers. Covenants of marriage are broken. Covenants in business are broken. Covenants among nations are broken. Covenants God made with His people were broken by people but never by God. He keeps covenant. It is arrogance on the part of human beings that when we "dealt proudly" as they did in the past, we become stiff-necked, or "hard-necked," as did those people and refuse to listen to what God says, nor do what God wants. The results of such attitudes and behavior leads us into slavery to sin and because of sin. Then being law-breakers, unfaithful and wicked people becomes almost the normal way of life for those who ignore the Lord God of heaven. At least those in that day acknowledged, and affirmed that God was right and they were wrong, and were willing to sign an affirmation document to that effect. It is then that recovery can begin, fellowship can be restored, and the terms of a covenant relationship can again be in place between our Righteous God and His own people.