Thoughts for the Day

* Nehemiah faces problems on the exiles return to Jerusalem.

Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you for your own good,
who leads you in the way you should go.
O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your prosperity would have been like a river,
and your success like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

One year on my twin sister and brother's birthday in June, when they were about 8 years old, we were living in Belgium near Leir. My parents decided to have a party for them and their friends, and hired an ice-cream van. We could eat as much ice cream as we wanted, together with copious amounts of strawberries. Despite being warned by my parents to stop eating I just kept going. Oh how I wished I had listened. To this day I can remember how ill I felt that evening!

Our reading from Isaiah comes after the people of Israel have been offered a way out of their captivity in Babylon. Cyrus the King of Persia (559-530 BCE) decides to allow the Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild their city and temple. Unfortunately this is no walk in the park for others have settled in and around the ruined city. They do not welcome their return, and all kind of obstacles are put in their way so that they immediately complain to God.

We see God almost sadly reminding them that He has redeemed them from captivity, and like a parent has had to teach them 'for their own good'. But they ignored His wishes and His laws. Obedience would have brought them peace and the blessings of a right relationship with Him, as well as the promise of descendants, and of an eternal relationship with Him.

Looking at our world today and at our own lives, can we say we are any better than the exiles who returned to Jerusalem? We too have been redeemed, but have ignored God's laws. What blessings might we have lost, and what confessions do we need to make?

Heavenly Father,
we confess our individual
and corporate sin.
We confess that all too often
we disobey Your law
to love You and all people.
We do not stand up for what is right,
or try hard enough to make changes,
but frequently just moan
about the way the world is going.
Show us how to act, we pray,
and give us the courage
to carry it out.
Amen.