Confessing the sins we have sinned against You

Nehemiah 1:1-3:14 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, ² that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. ³ They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”

⁴ When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵ I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶ let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ ¹⁰ They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

2 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. ² So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³ I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” ⁴ Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” ⁶ Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. ⁷ And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. ⁹ Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. ¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.

Nehemiah’s heart was to see Jerusalem rebuilt and his people return to God. He didn’t pray a prayer of accusations and condemnation against those among his people who had fallen away and sinned. Rather, he united himself in repentance with his people for their sin. He begins his prayer saying:        “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,  let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.      Many today say that America needs to turn back to God. They say that as a nation we have turned away from God and His commandments. Certainly that is true. The direction of much of our government and our laws certainly seem to be opposed to God’s laws. The truth is though that we are not nor have ever been a Christian nation. We are a nation which was founded on many Christian values, by leaders who revered God’s word. But a nation itself cannot be saved. Jesus died on the cross to save people, not political entities.

Many today use 2 Chronicles 7:14:    if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land;     as a rallying cry for the church. We, believers, the church, need to understand that our nation will not repent. It must begin with those who are God’s people, believers, the church are those who need to humble themselves, to pray and to seek the face of God. To seek the face of God we need to come in repentance for the sins of our nation, not accusing or condemning others, but like Nehemiah repenting on their behalf. Hebrews 4:16 says:    Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.      If we are to seek the face of God we need to humble ourselves, to identify with those who have sinned. Humbled, we can then go boldly to the throne of grace. If we go arrogantly, if we go judging, criticizing and condemning, if we go seeking God’s judgment on the sins of others, we ourselves go before the judgment seat of Christ.  In Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus says: “Judge not, that you be not judged.For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”       If we pray in judgment and condemnation, we bring that judgment and condemnation on ourselves. We are judged as we judge, with the same measure.

In today’s text, Nehemiah’s prayer of repentance was indeed heard by God. Because Nehemiah humbled himself and sought the face of God, God turned the heart of a pagan king, Artaxerxes, to be favorably disposed toward Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. God can change the hearts of leaders today, both in this nation and around the world. Daniel 2:20-22 says:   “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.  He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.       God can change the hearts of men, even kings or government leaders, or God can raise up others to take the place of those opposed to Him.

Whether this time we are in is a time of awakening for our nation, a time when the leaders of our nation are themselves turned toward and become favorably disposed to the commandments of God, or it is simply a time when many in the nation are turned to God remains to be seen. In Psalm 2:7-8 there is a promise which we share with Christ, it says:   “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.     The nations we are promised as an inheritance are more than geographic territories. The nations are the people. The promise is that we will participate with Christ Jesus in His inheritance, the salvation and redemption of man. We, believers, the church, share in that to the extent that we: will humble ourselves, and pray and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways,   we share in God’s inheritance if we boldly go to the throne of grace, not condemnation or judgment.

Heavenly Father, I pray today as Nehemiah prayed,   I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,  let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel, (and of America), Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel (and America), which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.       By Your grace, move on the hearts of our leaders and of Your people.      Amen