Nehemiah 9:28b In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them many times!
The mercy, grace, forgiveness, and patience God showed for the Israelites was truly amazing. Thankfully, because He was merciful, gracious, forgiving, and patient with them, we know that He will be so with us as well.
When we read summaries of Israel's history - how they repeatedly took God's favour for granted and turned away from Him, only to cry out to Him when they were in exile or other times of hardship - it's easy to shake our heads as we pat our backs for being better than they were. But such pride can be our own downfall. Instead, may we learn from their mistakes, and recognize those same patterns in our own lives.
As the saying goes, "those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it". We are just as prone to sliding back into sin as the Israelites were.
We cannot be passive about our faith.
We must purposefully pursue God and both our knowledge and love of Him.
We must purposefully pursue holiness and be ruthless when it comes to ridding our lives of sin.
We must purposefully love those around us, particularly those who are "unloveable".
We must make time to read, study, meditate, and memorize God's Word.
We must then apply what we've read to our lives.
We must love God and love each other.
We can never think we have arrived at spiritual maturity.
We must never stop.
Thankfully, when we do, He is ready and willing to rescue us, many times.
He is forever faithful - praise His name!
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Nehemiah 11-13
2 comments:
It is amazing and comforting at the same time to know that God was patient with the Israelites and is with us too.
Good points about being purposefull in pursuing God, and also in applying what we have read or memorized to our own lives. It's not enough to know, we have to live it too.
Yes, our spiritual lives are not going to be easy like a holiday, but will require work every day. I pray for the strength to battle everyday to do what God wants.
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