When we feel like we have failed
Today's passage often gets quoted without its context.The background makes it even more beautiful...
Nehemiah had led the people in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and then, in the safety that the walls created, they called a sacred assembly, where God's Law was read aloud to the people who had gathered there.
It was a significant moment: With men, women and children gathered together for hours, listening to God's Law being read and explained. As they listened, they realised the depth of their failure and the beauty and majesty of the God who rescued them, brought them back from Babylon and revealed Himself through His law - and it moved them to tears.
Now remorse can be a good thing, but Nehemiah also knew that genuine remorse could degenerate into paralysing guilt if the focus remained on their failure. And so He shifts their focus: "Go and feast and celebrate - this day is not about your failure, but about the goodness and the forgiveness of God."
"Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Many Christians today can be so caught up in their failures and shortcomings.
Remorse is good, but being mired down in a paralysing sense of failure isn't.
We must always remember that we cannot save ourselves.
We must always remember that we cannot save ourselves.
Good remorse is always in the light of the Salvation that has already been effected for us. Our strength (to change, to live, to make a difference) comes not from guilt but from God's goodness.
So we focus on Him and not on our efforts and the mistakes and shortcomings that accompany them.
| Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah8:9-10) |
