I opened my Bible and Nehemiah 9:5b – 6 NIV, jumped out at me so to speak. After the rebuilding of the wall, and reading the law for several hours this is what the word says;
5b Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessings and praise 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
An interesting tidbit; While reading the preceding chapters for background, I noticed that when Ezra the scribe got up to speak to the people “he stood on a wooden platform build for the purpose”. Could this be where the idea to build a platform in the front of churches for the preacher to bee seen by the people was taken from?
They had separated out all the true Israelites from those dwelling in the rebuilt city. They had counted the remnant who had returned while they were rebuilding the walls. After eight days of study and celebration the people came together once more to lift praise to God for His protection and all He had done for them.
Before they lifted up their praise they confessed their sin.
I am thinking that we need to do a little more confessing of our sin in our churches. The world sees us as “holier than thou”, a bunch of self righteous hypocrites. In truth we are just sinners saved by grace. If as the Israelites did, we made it clear that we are no better than those from the world, that we make mistakes just like them, the outside world would not be so threatened by us.
Perhaps, if they truly understood, that the only difference between us, was the shed blood of Christ, just maybe they would want to know more about the God, who loved us so much, He came to earth to live among us, and to die to pay the price, He Himself demands, for our sin.
Then they too could bless the name of our great God.
Father God, I am a sinner, I make many mistakes all the time. Lord I try to seek your guidance in all things, but my own desires get in the way. Help us Lord to learn from our past mistakes and the mistakes of others, that we too may bless your holy name for your mighty hand upon our lives.
Thank you, dear God, for loving me, when I was at my worst. Thank you, Lord, for giving me your Holy Spirit, to be my counselor. Thank you, oh great and powerful creator, for your great patience, as we struggle to get it right. You truly are a great God, worthy of all praise, and honor.
Amen.
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