Nehemiah 9:5-6 … “Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD….
I am a big fan of analogies because they help me make sense of things that are often difficult to understand. I have often thought of difficult times, especially difficult times for which I see no solution, as wilderness—utterly barren of other life, utterly inhospitable, desolate, overgrown, without a trail or path or clear space to leave, frightening, beyond my ability to escape.
Nehemiah 9:16-17 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey Your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles You performed among them….”
This idea of wilderness emphasizes WILD—untamed, beyond my strength to endure. Perhaps that is why Isaiah 43:19 (“See, I am doing a new thing! …do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness….”) has always provided balm for my weary, frightened soul when I am wondering in metaphorical wilderness. I feel that same sense of comfort, knowing that God is present and working, in today’s chapter.
Nehemiah 9:19 “Because of Your great compassion You did not abandon them in the wilderness….”
Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the reminder that You don’t abandon us in the wilderness, even at our worst, that You are making a way, even if we can’t yet perceive it. Thank You for being present with us in the wilderness. Help us never to forget that You there. Amen.
Nehemiah 9:21 “For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing….”
Have a blessed day.