Bible in 90 Days - Day 35 (Nehemiah)

Almighty God, you have spoken to us through your Son.

Let your written Word now be spoken and heard by each of us.

Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand,

that we may not refuse your calling or ignore your voice.

May we all be taught by you through your powerful Word.

Bring our every thought captive to obeying Christ,

to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

I realize that for the sake of keeping the reading to 12 pages each day (in the official 90 Day Bible) we stop a few verses short of the end of the book, but it seems best (and not too challenging) just to finish the book in one day.

Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem in 445 B.C., 13 years after Ezra returns. This is the third wave of returned exiles.

Nehemiah is a covenant guy. I think sometimes when we pray “Your will be done,” we could almost add, “whatever that may be.” Nehemiah’s opening prayer has echoes of “Your will be done,” but it has an exclamation point on the thought, “and I know what your will is because you tell us in the covenant!” Understanding God’s covenant promises emboldens our prayers.

Nehemiah understands that godliness and wisdom go hand in hand. When there was danger, he laid out his plan in 4:9 – “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” Trusting God and posting a guard are not incompatible. Whenever there is success, Nehemiah credits God (but he never stops working).

Ezra appears in chapter 8. This is an important scene – not only is Jerusalem reestablished through the rebuilding of the wall and gates, more importantly they return to the covenant God had made with them.

Nehemiah 8:9-12 reminds me of the Lord’s Supper. Some people approach the Table with so much guilt that they don’t feel worthy to partake. This sounds a lot like the mourners in Nehemiah. Both mourn for good reason, but God’s grace towards us gives us the joy to celebrate. We celebrate God’s goodness to us, not our goodness to him.

When I read chapter 9, I’m guessing that their worship planners weren’t aiming for a 75 minute service. Big celebrations like this always served to remind Israel that worshiping God alone and living according to the covenant were the central and defining aspects of their life as a community. The prayer in chapter 9 is spectacular. There is a great remembering of everything that has happened and a plea to God: “do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes.” Then in chapter 10 they return to the covenant of God and get very specific about how they will do it.