Seeds for 10/25/2024 - Nehemiah 9:5b-8
Scripture:
“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
7 “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.”
Observation:
The Levites are leading the people’s response to hearing God’s Word and experiencing conviction. Over the next several entries, we’ll engage with the prayer they prayed on behalf of their people. They open their prayer with praise. Two basic observations today as we begin:
First, they acknowledge God as Creator of the Cosmos. This is a foundational claim. God is worthy of worship because He is the One who made all that is, “seen and unseen,” in the words of the Nicene Creed. Everything owes its very existence to Him, including us! Therefore, worship is naturally and appropriately given to God. Part of this is awe, reflected in the sense of totality we get from listing “the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.” Part of this is properly directed gratitude to God who “give[s] life to everything.”
Second, they acknowledge God as establishing them as a people through calling and covenant. God “chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.” If not for God, they would not be a distinct people, heirs of the promise and covenant of the Lord. They would be no one. But God did call, God did promise, and God did make good on that promise.
They pray to God because all creation owes its existence to Him. And they pray to God because they owe their existence as a people to Him as well. It’s God’s gracious choosing from beginning to end.
Application:
What has God done that fills you with awe and gratitude?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, remind us daily that your awesome power is marshaled in the service of your amazing love, evident in creating us, calling us, and covenanting with us. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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