Explore: Return to the restoring God

• The Explore the Bible lessons for Feb. 15 focuses on Nehemiah 9:32-37.

image_pdfimage_print

• The Explore the Bible lessons for Feb. 15 focuses on Nehemiah 9:32-37.

I have many memories from my childhood of a game called “Truth or Dare.” A favorite at slumber parties, participants were asked to decide in advance whether they would answer a very personal question completely truthfully, or they could blindly commit to complete whatever dare the group decided to lay on them.

If you chose “truth,” you might have to reveal a hidden secret—an embarrassing personal habit, a crush on a boy in your class or something wrong you had done. If you chose “dare,” you were at the mercy of your friends’ spirit of adventure—or worse, mischief. A chronic worrier, I dreaded these games and the vulnerability they demanded. But what I didn’t understand at the time was the relational benefit we all gained. Telling the truth, perhaps especially when it reveals something unfavorable or embarrassing, brings you closer together.

From mourning to joy

Nehemiah 9 begins “on the 24th day of the same month” (v. 1). In chapter 8, the word of God brought the people from mourning to joy and then to obedience, as they celebrated the Festival of Booths and held a sacred assembly. After one day’s rest, the people of God returned for what is sometimes called a national confession.

In the New International Version of the Bible, this section is titled, “The Israelites Confess Their Sins.” And when we talk about confession in the church, confession of sin most often is what comes to mind. But Nehemiah 9 is as much a confession of faith as a confession of sins. In fact, there are more verses in this chapter about the faithfulness of God than about the unfaithfulness of the people. This chapter, then, gives us a broader perspective about confession. Confession is telling the truth about God and telling the truth about people.

When we tell the truth about God, we remember God’s faithfulness throughout the history of God’s people and throughout our own history as well. We remember our God is a God of mercy and forgiveness. We remember our God is a God of second chances. We remember our God is a God of restoration. By confessing these truths about God, we discover the freedom to tell the truth about ourselves.

Telling the truth about God

The people’s confession reaches its climax in verses 32-37. The people begin this section by once again telling the truth about God. God is personal, and the people can say with great assurance that God is “our God” (v. 32). God has proven to be great, mighty and awesome throughout Israel’s history, from creation (v. 6) to the covenant with Abraham (vv. 7-8), through deliverance in Egypt (vv. 9-11) and loving care in the desert (v. 12), through the wilderness wandering (vv. 13-21) and to the conquest of Canaan (vv. 22-25). Throughout their history, God faithfully kept God’s covenant of love.


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


In contrast to the faithfulness of God, God’s people had proven over and over to be unfaithful. Here the confession takes a penitential turn. The hardship God’s people were experiencing was a direct consequence of their sin. In a demonstration of solidarity with their ancestors, they confessed a pattern of turning their backs on God despite God’s great mercy and provision. Each time they were punished, they returned to God for a time, but as God caused the people to prosper, they become forgetful and unfaithful once more.

Nehemiah’s generation reaped the consequences of their sin. They became slaves to a foreign king who reaped the benefits of their toil and sacrifice. The people cried out to their God and placed all their hopes on the longevity and consistency of God’s faithfulness to God’s people. They asked that God would see the deplorable conditions in which they lived and have mercy on them in their distress.

True confession

Confession is not a popular discipline today. Truth-telling certainly is not our national posture. We tend to position ourselves in the best light possible, justifying our actions to others, to God and even to ourselves. I may not be perfect, but at least I’m not as bad as the next guy. Clearly, we are using the wrong standard of measurement. True confession begins with an acknowledgement and recognition of God’s greatness and holiness. Then in light of God’s faithfulness, we can tell the truth about our own unfaithfulness. Finally, we are in a humble posture to request God’s rescue and restoration.

Nehemiah and those returning from exile could trust in God’s faithfulness to forgive and to restore because God had proven this again and again throughout history. We have an even greater reason to trust in God’s forgiveness and restoration. We live on the other side of history, when God has sent Jesus to provide once-and-for-all mercy and forgiveness for our sins.

Our restoration is assured by Christ’s blood on the cross. As Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And so, like Nehemiah’s generation, we can confess our sins, and we can confess our faith in a God who forgives and restores. “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise” (v. 5).


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard