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ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (IX)
SATURDAY, MARCH 14
Nehemiah 9:4-38

1 Kings 8:46-53

 

“…hear thou their prayer and
their supplication in heaven

thy dwelling place…”

 

ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (IX)
 
Sinfulness and depravity were man’s attribute. Their depravity thus continued to be manifested even while dwelling in the Land of Promise. God continued to be faithful, and the people, sinful.
 
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee (Neh 9:26). God’s long-suffering mercy continued beyond the period of the exodus into the period of their living in the Land of Promise. Their relationship with God in the Land of Promise can be summarised by cycles of (i) Provocation (Neh 9:26): in which the people “were disobedient, and rebelled” rejecting God’s law; (ii) Chastisement (Neh 9:27a): in which God “deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies” receiving vexation and trouble; (iii) Pleading (Neh 9:27b): in which the people turned back to God and “cried unto thee” for help, which God graciously heard and (iv) Deliverance (Neh 9:27c): in which God “gavest them saviours, who saved them.” These cycles characterised the entire history of Israel from the time of possessing the land up to the time of going into captivity (Neh 9:28‑29). The testimony of their history is that, a sinful and rebellious people though they had been, God continually showed Himself a long-suffering and merciful God to them (Neh 9:30‑31).
 
Now therefore, our God (Neh 9:32). They were conscious of their nature from their history, but as they approached God with respect to the condition they were in (which they recognised to be by virtue of their rebellion and sin), they sought to renew the covenant. As they did so, they did it not lightly, for they not only had a sense of their unworthiness, they also had the sense of God’s greatness, might, faithfulness and justice (Neh 9:32-33). In addition, they also had a sense of their unfaithfulness to the same covenant, for they did not make a new covenant, but renewed the same covenant (Neh 9:34-35). They acknowledged that the only way to enjoy the benefits of the covenant was to choose to be dependent on God.
 
THOUGHT: We can return to God, trusting His mercy and help.

PRAYER: (Use Psalm 51:5-10.)

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