Me? Series Notes- Nehemiah 9

When the people heard the Book of the Law of the Lord read to them (v. 1-5), they were convicted to confess their sins before God. Not simply there own sins, but the sins of the Israelites from ages past. From verses 5-38, the people retrace their history from the book of Genesis through the books of the Kings. There were many high points (God choosing Abram- v. 7; the rescue at the Red Sea- v. 9-11; God speaking from Mt. Sinai- v. 13; many more).

But there was also a pattern of disobedience toward God (v. 16; 19; 26; 28; 30; and more). Reading the Israelites' history as it's recounted here is very much like a roller coaster- lots of ups and downs.

But through it all God was faithful: "But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love"- v. 17b.

Here's The Point: When was the last time you took time to look back at your history to see how truly gracious God has been to you? Your life probably has some roller coaster effect to it as did the Israelites.

In class on Sunday, each of us wrote out at least 5 ways that God had been "gracious and compassionate" and "abounding in love" toward us. It was a great time of reflection that I'd encourage you to do.