You know there are ways the cares of life throw us into states of pandemonium. In ways that tend to engulf us all with the worries of today and the worries of tomorrow while we forget all of the goodness of God from time immemorial. Nehemiah chapter 9 points us to a group of people who had one goal, the goal to spend some good time with God. It even gets a lot better, they had no ask from God; all they did was confess their sins, study the scripture, and worship God. Nehemiah 9 verses 3 says that
"they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God".
These children of God spent about twelve hours or more in God’s presence; they spent six hours just reading the bible and another six hours they spent confessing and worshipping their God. In my opinion, that is a great time well spent. You may ask, what is there thank God about? The truth is if we take our precious time in stillness and reflection as God’s children did as recorded in Nehemiah – we’d see how much there is to thank God for. One of the things they highlighted was how God sustained their ancestors in the wilderness for a good forty years – providing for them and preserving their clothes so much that their clothes were never worn out. It is very easy to overlook such graciousness and kindness of God. God literally catered for all of their needs not their wants and specific desires but God met all their needs so much that they never lacked anything for forty years. Let us pause to think about the families that we may have been born into; not everyone has the privilege to be born into Christian homes or Christian ancestries but somehow you who may be reading have been saved, translated into God’s marvelous kingdom. Like you live in the light, you can discern light from darkness, and be able to make informed decisions, you have the Holy Spirit alive and active inside of you to guide, strengthen, and help you. That is enough to be so thankful for!
They went ahead to describe how God’s children wandered off from God’s loving arms despite His non-stop love and care for them. They would wander off, God would allow them to give them off to their enemies, and then they would come running back to God. As a human, I just may not accept them back just like that, I may subject them to more punishment before taking them. But God on the other hand takes them right back into His loving arms every single time – that is patience, mercy, and love at its peak!
Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
Nevertheless in Your great mercy
You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful
Nehemiah 9:31-32
I can resonate with it so much because, for a good ten years, I wandered off from the path of light that my parent had shown me. For a good ten years, I lived my life without a solid relationship with God although I had some vague knowledge of Him. Nonetheless, in the year 2016 when I became aware of the kind of life I was charting and surrendered my entirety to Him – He took me into His loving arms and never for once condemned me. A good number of corrections here and there but condemnation was not what I experienced with my God. I am almost certain that a good number of you reading this have similar testimonies – that my dear is a good reason to express gratitude towards the alpha and omega of our lives.
Many times, we have been faced with manifolds of decisions to make yet we have received guidance from our good God; whether consciously or subconsciously. God’s children of old after much reflection. They cited God’s guidance as something to be thankful for.
In your manifold mercies
You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go.
Nehemiah 9:19
For as many of you as read this and think deeply, reflect deeply – you’d acknowledge how God has led you on His path of righteousness for His namesake. This blog post is written with the hopes of sparking up reflections within our internal spaces, it is written with the hopes that you map out time to spend with God – at least twelve hours.
You can do it through Christ who strengthens you and I promise you will leave t. at place refreshed, empowered, and revived. Overall, it would help your relationship with God.