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I have a prayer/blessing that I pray for friends and write on cards.
“May you experience God’s Power, His Provision, His Protection, His Presence, and His Peace.”
I like the illiteration (words starting with the same letter).
Through the years, God has added P-words to my prayer/blessing.
As I read through Nehemiah 9, I recognized that the Israelites had experienced and now remembered these aspects of God… and more.
I love chapters like Nehemiah 9.
It is a mini-Genesis/Exodus, concisely written into one chapter. Nehemiah 9 gives the highlights.
We find other chapters like this one.
For example, In Acts 7, Stephen recounted the events of history before he was stoned.
In Hebrews 11, we are reminded of events of the Old Testament and the faith of the patriarchs.
Let’s take a look at Nehemiah 9
The Israelites have come out of Babylonian captivity and returned to Jerusalem.
On the final day of the Feast of Booths, the people of Israel observed a solemn day as God instructed.
For 1/4 of the day – They stood and read aloud from the book of the law.
For 1/4 of the day – They confessed and worshiped the Lord.
In Leviticus 23, God gives instructions about the Feast of Tabernacles (the Feast of Booths). It is one of the three mandatory feasts. All Israelites traveled to Jerusalem to present themselves before the Lord and make offerings.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month will be the feast of tabernacles for seven daysto the LORD. On the first day will be an holy convocation, in which you mustn’t do any servile (customary, ordinary) work. Seven days you will offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day will be a holy convocation to you; and you will offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; and you mustn’t do any servile work in it. (Vs 33-36)
Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you will keep a feast for the LORD seven days. On the first day will be a sabbath, and on the eighth day will be a sabbath. And on the first day you will take you the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you will rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And you will keep it a feast for the LORD seven days in the year. It will be a statute for ever in your generations: you will celebrate it in the seventh month. You will dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born will dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Vs 39-43)
Then certain Levites stood on the raised platform and prayed aloud.
POWER, PROVISION
Verse 6
“You alone are LORD;
You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all the things that are in it, the seas, and all that is in them.
And You preserve them all;
The host of heaven worships you.”
The people remember that by his Word, God created heaven, earth, the seas and all that is in them. God created all the things that man needs to survive and thrive… food, water, air. He also positioned the sun the perfect distance from the earth. (Genesis 1-2)
And by His Word, He preserves the world until the end.
“For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:5-7)
PROMISE-KEEPER
Verses 7-8 .
“You are the LORD the God, who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have performed Your words, because You are righteous.”
The people remembered God’s promise to Abraham
POWER
Verses 9-11
“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt. You showed signs and wonders on Pharaoh and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; because You knew that they dealt proudly against our fathers. So You made a name for Yourself, even to this day.
You heard their cry by the Red Sea and divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land. You threw their persecutors into the deeps, like a stone into the mighty waters.”
God used his amazing power to bring them from Egypt and rescue them from the Egyptians who pursued them.
The ten plagues of Egypt – Exodus 5-12
God parted the area Sea – Exodus 14
PRESENCE, PROTECTION
Verse 12
“You led them in the day by a cloud; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way in which they should go.”
God led them by a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night. They knew He was present. He was guiding them.
God may also have been protecting them. The cloud may have provided shade from the hot desert sun. The fire gave them light and may have warmed them during the cool desert nights.
“The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them in the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He didn’t take away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” (Exodus 13:20-21)
PRESENCE
Verses 13-14
“You came down onto mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments. You made known to them Your holy sabbath and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses Your servant:”
The LORD came down onto Mtn Sinai in the sight of all the people. Moses went up the mountain to meet with Him. (Exodus 19:11,16-20) For forty days, Moses received the law and the commandments. God personally wrote the 10 commandments on the tablets. (Exodus 20, 32:16)
“Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:18)
PROVISION
Verse 15
“You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger.
You brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst.”
PROMISE-KEEPER
Verse 15
“You promised them that they would go in to possess the land which You had sworn to give them.”
PARDON, PRESENCE
Verses 16-19
“But our fathers were proud and hardened their hearts, and they didn’t listen to Your commandments. They refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of the wonders that You did among them. They rebelled and even appointed a captain to return to their bondage.
“But You are a God who is:
-ready to pardon
-gracious
-merciful
-slow to anger
-of great kindness
And You didn’t forsake them.
“When they made them a golden calf, and said, ‘This is your God that brought you out of Egypt, and demonstrated great provocations,’ You in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness:”
“The pillar of the cloud didn’t departed from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.”
Even though the Israelites rebelled and turned to a god they made with their own hands, God continued to guide them.
PROVISION, PROTECTION
Verse 20-21
“You continued to give also Your good spirit to instruct them. You didn’t withhold Your manna from them, and You gave them water for their thirst. You sustained them in the wilderness forty years, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.”
God continued to provide for their basic needs, and even protected their bodies.
He had brought them back to Jerusalem. He had brought them out of Babylonian captivity. They knew He would never forsake them. In remembering their history, the Israelites could remember God’s Power, His Provision, His Protection, His Presence. In remembering, they could have confidence that He would continue to do as He had always done. In this knowledge, they could experience His Peace.
