For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples.
Nehemiah 9:30
The things which you deserved to face as a result of your actions are not the things that you have faced simply because of the mercies of God… Despite the situations that you may be facing or even may have just gone through, you must stand in faith, smiling amidst the trials and tribulations knowing that things can always be worse… The children of God found themselves in bondage and dealt with the consequences of their disobedience; however, the word of God reminds us today that God continued to be patient with them… Know that God has been patient with you; you may think He has not been there at all, but the way to tell is simply by looking at the things which you have done which have not killed you or turned out as bad as they could have… There are decisions that you have made that should have caused you your death; however, the grace, mercy, and patience of God have spared you and kept you despite the pitiful darkness that was over your life… Nehemiah reminds us today that for many years God was patient with them; His patience has not run out and He continues to give us second, third, and even fourth chances… This is good news for the one who feels like they have fallen beyond the saving grace that is the mighty hand of God; this should be encouraging to the believer who has backslid or the child who has wandered off… There is a time when the world will end; however, you can find comfort in knowing that the moment you have today can be a moment in which your life is transformed because of God’s patience…
What I love about this passage from Nehemiah is the fact that God sent messages to His children through the prophets even though they paid no attention… God continues to show forth His desires to bring you back into the fold; the Lord continues to display His love even while we don’t show our love toward Him… He admonishes us through the prophets as Nehemiah tells us; however, we must also remember that this is done in love as outlined in Proverbs 3:12 "because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." The signs of God’s path are all around you, the things that have to change in your life are your focus and motivations. Those must be changed in order to see and comprehend the plans of God… It is your actions and the decisions that you make that lead to results that you do not want… You have the ability to change and transform circumstances; you have the ability to alter the atmosphere of the situation that you are currently facing and you have the ability to turn a negative situation into a positive one if you live the faith you speak of in Christ… Nehemiah goes on to say, yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples… God has planted the seed of ability inside you; however, you have chosen to pay it no attention and live your life trying to appease people instead of the Lord… You have more ability within you than you know and you should be thankful unto the Lord that He has been patient with you as you have misused the gifts and abilities which He has placed inside of you… It is because of this that God has allowed things in your life to take place so that you can actually be refined after being placed over or going through the fire… This is why you can accept the growing pains in Christ… He has been patient and has continued to work with you knowing your ability before you even realized that the potential is there… This is why He can anoint David to be king after only being seen as a shepherd for His father… This is how he can call David a man after His own heart even though he messed up and ended up taking another man’s life… Understand that God will get your attention; however, it’s entirely up to you as to how it is that He has to accomplish it… God has been patient because of the seed and ability He placed in you; you in turn need to be patient now as you go through knowing that the storms of today are watering the seed that will sprout tomorrow…
ALL FOR HIS GLORY!
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