Word: Nehemiah 9: 22-31 (abridged) (NLT)
22 “Then you helped our ancestors conquer kingdoms and nations, and you placed your people in every corner of the land…23 You made their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and brought them into the land you had promised to their ancestors.
24 “They went in and took possession of the land. You subdued whole nations before them….Your people could deal with these nations and their kings as they pleased. 25 Our ancestors captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took over houses full of good things, with cisterns already dug and vineyards and olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate until they were full and grew fat and enjoyed themselves in all your blessings.
26 “But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies. 27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who made them suffer. But in their time of trouble they cried to you, and you heard them from heaven. In your great mercy, you sent them liberators who rescued them from their enemies.
28 “But as soon as they were at peace, your people again committed evil in your sight, and once more you let their enemies conquer them. Yet whenever your people turned and cried to you again for help, you listened once more from heaven. In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them many times!
29 “You warned them to return to your Law, but they became proud and obstinate and disobeyed your commands. They did not follow your regulations, by which people will find life if only they obey. They stubbornly turned their backs on you and refused to listen. 30 In your love, you were patient with them for many years. You sent your Spirit, who warned them through the prophets. But still they wouldn’t listen! So once again you allowed the peoples of the land to conquer them.31 But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!
Often people and nations want to see the King of All Nations as the Judge of All Nations, eager to punish, eager to enforce, indifferent to human frailty, intolerant of human error. This is not the picture that the prophet Nehemiah painted—and he could have easily. His task was to rebuild walls that the enemies of his nation had destroyed and demolished in the time of his grandparents. He could have chosen to focus on all the suffering of the nation because of their rebellion at the hand of God, but instead he focused on the grace and mercy of the King of All Nations.
Yes, there was judgment as a consequence of rebellion, but over and over again, when the people of the nation realized that they themselves were the cause of their own suffering and when they turned back to God, over and over again he rescued them! Over and over, the King warned them what would happen if they became proud and obstinate. Over and over again, he sent his Spirit who warned them through prophets—over and over again. Over and over, he sent them liberators.
The King of All Nations desires to bless and to reward. Even the suffering, the consequence of rebellion, is not revenge; it is not justice. Even the punishment is not meant to destroy, but to draw the nation back so that God can give people the joy of his salvation.
Prayer: Show us the sins of our nation, Father, so that we may repent and return to your blessing. Free us from those who would ignore your Word, who would attempt to set up their own throne over your nation, O Lord. You are gracious and merciful. Without your mercy, we are lost. Amen.
The 70s were scary times—maybe more so than today. We had only lived a few miles from the Olympic Village in Munich when the Israeli athletes were kidnapped and murdered. Airplane hijackings occurred frequently, some ending in grenades being rolled down the aisles of the planes. The Red Army Faction, known to us in Germany more as the Baader-Meinhof Group, were kidnapping people, bombing establishment sites, and assassinating well-known figures. Wanted posters were everywhere. I even had the German Bundespolizei call me for an interview once because after driving back from a youth rally, one of the young Germans with us had seen a VW van with lots of anti-government slogans painted all over it, and so he reported it to the police.
The young man had come home. Here he was in his own synagogue, surrounded by the people who had seen him grow up. Of course he was asked to do the Scripture reading from the Torah and to make brief comments afterwards. After all, he was one of them.
Let me tell you a true story about refugees. There were over 100 who had already fled their home country together because of severe and dangerous persecution. They had sought refuge in one country, but now needed to move on. They paid a lot of money to arrange two small boats to carry them across precarious waters to a country where they thought they could be free and safe. One of the boats was so leaky that after just a short ways, both of the boats turned around and went back to where they started. Those refugees in the leaky boat decided either not to risk it again or to overload the boat that had a chance of making it. The bravest or the most afraid launched out again on their dangerous journey.
It was raining hard this morning when we woke up in Athens. Our apartment for this LST project is near the center of the city, so we are surrounded by tall buildings which block the sun a bit. All this to say, that it was really a dark, rainy morning.
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