The First Step – Reflecting on Nehemiah 2:17-18

I’m finished reading Nehemiah: A Pastoral and Exegetical Commentary, but am behind in sharing the few quotes that stood out to me. Many of the quotes that did so are longer, but this one, not so much:

God often uses his messengers and his word to shine a light on matters in our lives that are unacceptable to God and yet have become accepted by us. Jerusalem is “desolate.” Perhaps they have grown accustomed to the disgrace. The first step in changing a situation is to honestly assess the situation. Only then will one recognize the need for the change.

Nehemiah: A Pastoral and Exegetical Commentary, p.43

What in your life have you gotten used to and stopping resisting? What sin seems a losing battle? What conversation, situation or relationship do you avoid messing with, settling instead for the status quo? Sometimes all it takes is for fresh eyes to point out our precarious position, to point us back to God, to help us reflect on his love and care for his people. In this case, it was the perspective of a leader committed to bringing God glory, removing the reproach that had become “the new normal”.

In chapter 2, Nehemiah helps the people see their condition. It’s not that they didn’t already know what Jerusalem was like, the desperate state it had fallen into. But they needed someone to point the way forward. They needed encouragement, even exhortation, that was grounded in God’s glory and promises. They needed to be confronted with how their ambivalence and acceptance of the situation dishonored God and prolonged the situation.

I’m coming to realize, more and more, when the day-to-day looms so large that it begins to choke out our vision of God, we need the Spirit’s voice spoken through brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot and must not walk this life alone, separate from other believers. We need the gospel applied in our lives daily, and we need all the different gifts, voices and perspectives that come from God’s covenant community.