Road Trippin With Rachael

I can’t speak for anyone else, but some times life is hard.

There are things that happen that are out of my control. Some times those things make facing anew day difficult, and some times they make me question what the future is going to look like. I’m old enough for some of the history I’ve lived to e showing up in history books. I can remember the Columbine High School shooting, and how we didn’t have intruder drills in schools before that, and how we could carry backpacks around – there was a time when we weren’t allowed to do that – we couldn’t wear hoodies while in the school. I can distinctly remember being a junior in high school and my history book ending with the events of September 11th. Most recently, we’ve collectively lived through the COVID-19 Pandemic, and I’m pretty certain we can all say that was a hard year to year and a half that we all lived through.

When we go live through times that life is hard, I take comfort in finding and doing the things that are consistent. Strange as it sounds its the things like laundry, dishes, baking, making the bed, getting dressed that really helped to stay stable during the hard times. More importantly than doing things that helped to remain stable, I was reminded of the character of God.

It’s easy to ask “where is he?” when life seems to be spinning out of control. But as I read through Nehemiah, I’m reminded of God’s character. He isn’t far away, but is involved in the lives of people, and he cares about what we go through – even if in the moment it feels hard. As we go through Nehemiah 9, I believe that there are 5 truths we see about the character of God: he is consistent, he is creator, he provides, he is just, and he is faithful.

God is Consistent

One of the things that I have always loved about the character of God is his consistency. We never have to worry about whether God will do what he says he will do, if he will fulfill his promises, or if he will change in any essential part to who he is. That is not so with many of the gods that we are introduced to throughout the Bible or through our history classes about ancient and not-so-ancient cultures (ie. Rome, Greece, India, Assyria, Babylon, etc.) We are able to experience a consistency with God that transcends time. Consider for a moment three ways that Nehemiah 9 shows that God is consistant.

One, God is consistent in that he is outside of time. Looking to 9:5 – the Lord is described as everlasting to everlasting. I don’t know about you, but everlasting means that there is no beginning and there is no end. God refers to himself this way in Revelation 22:13 – “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end.” Since God exists outside of time, then that means that his view of time is different from ours’ because while God is infinite, we are finite. This further means that the way that we want instant gratification isn’t the way that God desires gratification. All things happen in the time that God desires it to happen, not when we desire it to happen. This means that we can trust him to do the things that he says he is going to do.

Two, God cannot be matched. We see that this is the statement that is made in Nehemiah 9:6 – “You, LORD, are the only God” (CSB). This actually echoes Deuteronomy 6:4 in the Shema – “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (CSB). There aren’t any who can match God. There are none who are omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. There is none outside of God who is worth of worship – that is only God. When we look to Deuteronomy this is a statement of God’s unity and consistency. He has a consistent character that is, was, and always will be.

Three, God’s actions speak for himself across time. Nehemiah 9:10 states this perfectly. “You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors” (CSB). Centuries later, Nehemiah was able to recall what God had done back in the book of Exodus. Another example would be out of the book of Genesis. “I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never against be a flood to destroy the earth.” Although we do still have flooding (and other natural disasters) there has not been a time where world-wide there has been a mass natural disaster that decimated everything. And, as we are discussing God consistency we do not want to keep examples regulated to the Old Testament, we can also took to John 14:26, where Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to send the Holy Spirit (a helper/counselor) who will be with the disciples, and that we will have the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). This comes to fruition on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Repeatedly, we see examples of how God proves his consistency to his people, and to the world at large, through various means and in various ways. This consistency is a part of the character of God that give reassurance that we can depend on what we are told.

God is Creator

God’s character can also be seen through his distinction of being the Creator. As such, he sits in authority over what he has created, but also he cares for what he has created.

Looking through the creation story a seen in Genesis 1 and 2, we see that there was time and care that went into the creation of all that we see. Logic was given to when things were created. He did not create sea creatures without making sure that the sea was separate from the sky (Genesis 1:9, 20). Nor did he create animals before there was dry land (Genesis 1:10, 24). He created with logic. As we look at Nehemiah 9, Nehemiah is cognicent of who God is as creator and Nehemiah brings this up in two distinct ways.

One: God is the creator of and cares about the physical. Verse 9 states that “[God] saw the oppression of [the Hebrew] ancestors in Egypt and heard their cray at the Red Sea” (CSB). Here is God listening to people, and hearing when they are oppressed and when they are literally in the Exodus, stuck between a rock and a hard place. There was a physical need; God saw and acted on the physical need of the people. This is not to say that there will always be an awe-inspiring epic miracle that happens whenever we have a need, but we can rest assured that God knows of our need.

Two: God is not limited to creating the things that are physical – he also creates the ideas and concepts that we hold has human beings. The example I am thinking of comes from Nehemiah 9:7-16. Here, Nehemiah gives a synopsis of the history of the Hebrew people. Abram had his name changed to Abraham, God entered into a covenant with him, Abraham had a family. That family would eventually go into Egypt where they would multiply, face oppression, and eventually come out as a whole people group. What is the concept here – people. God was able to take a single individual and grow from him and his wife an entire nation. Nehemiah recognizes this, and in his prayer that we read in Nehemiah 9, celebrates what God was able to do through his blessing to Abraham. In the same way, we need to recognize that when we are called to do something that is far from the norm, but it is God issuing the call, we can have faith that it will come to fruition. Even if we do not get to be the one to see the fulfillment of the promise (after all, Abraham did not get to see Jesus), we have faith that God will provide. And that is an essential part of his character.

God Provides For His People

The good Baptist in me really wants to have an alliteration for this part, so if you will indulge me for just a moment: God provides for his people by giving them Purpose, Place, Problem Solving, and Provision.

Purpose

When God brought Abram out of Ur, and took him to Canaan – it wasn’t because Abram was just the swell guy (Genesis 12; Nehemiah 9:7) . God had a purpose for him. Abram – Abraham- was going to become the patriarch of a family/people whose purpose was to show that this is what it looks like when you are walking in step with God. Even though they would still sin, and they would still live in a sinful world, they were to be an example to the people who were around them. By living the way that was outlines through Torah, the relationship they have God should have made the nations surrounding them want to turn to God as well.

Place

God always intended for his people to have a place. Physically speaking that place was Canaan in modern-day Palestine. This area would provide for this former nomadic family with its rich land. It was positioned in a strategic location politically (abet that was a future concern Abraham did not know about). Also God had a place for them in a central local because it would better allow them to fulfill their purpose. Even more importantly, Ancient Israel would prove to be the absolute best central location for the Gospel to take root and spread (Acts 1-13).

Problem Solving

As I’ve previously stated, God cares about our needs and he shares our concerns. When we are going through a tough time, and it feels like the world is caving in around us – we can have confidence that God knows what we are going through. And we are encouraged to go to him in prayer, and seek his will. Verse 8 harkens back to Genesis with Abraham and how while he was in a land that was not all together welcoming to him, God was still there; still heard the concerns of Abraham’s heart; he acknowledged the struggles that Abraham was feeling and having. And at the end of it all, God still kept the covenant that he made with Abraham.

Provision

Not only does God’s character have him taking care of the mental, spiritual, and emotional needs of his creation, but it also has him taking care of the physical needs as well.

Now, we do need to include a caveat here. By humankind’s own choice, we live in a broken, sinful world – which means that for better or worse, we have to live with the consequences of both our sins, and the sins of others (Isaiah 40:28). Sometimes those consequences are devastating, and some times the ripples are only for the individual. God does not keep us from facing consequences, but he does extend his grace so that we are not as bad as we could be (Romans 1:21-25).

But what we also need to recognize is that God makes sure that we are cared for. We may suffer consequences for our actions and the actions of others, but God still provides a way to care for us. Nehemiah recognizes this 9:10, 19-21.

You did not abandon them in the wilderness because of your great compassion. During the day the pillar of cloud, never turned away from them, guiding them on their journey. And during the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go. You sent your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. You provided for them in the wilderness forty years, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

Matthew 6:28 also reminds future generations that when we look to the flowers, they aren’t worried about having clothing or food. God takes care of all of it, because he made them to do that work to take nutrients from the ground, and he provides the rain to help them do that. So too, God provides what is needed for us to have our basic needs covered.

God is Just

I have found that there is often this dichotomy that exists when it comes to God being just. We really like it when God is just towards those we believe to have wronged us, but we really don’t like it when God is just towards us. However, this is an essential part of the character of who God is. For him to not be just would mean that he is not God – it is an oxymoron.

This then begs the questions of why is God just, what is the outcome, and how do we live with it. I would prose that Nehemiah 9 gives us the answers in verses 11-28. As I stated above, there are consequences from our sins, and no one is exempt from that since we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In Nehemiah’s case- specifically in 9:13-15 – he addresses how God gave Israel the Ten Commandments and Torah, so they knew and had it clearly articulated to them what God wanted and what the outcome would be if they chose to disobey. When Israel chose to worship other gods, to do everything that God said not to do, he let them face the consequences of those actions. For them, that meant that they were no longer an independent nation, but had come under the thumb of Babylon and they were taken out of the land that had been promised to Abraham (Nehemiah 9:11, 26-28). And through all of this, God was still merciful. He did not immediately pass judgement -he gave the Israelites the opportunity to repent, not once or twice, but over and over and over again. If you don’t believe me, just read through the book of Judges. He offers us grace and mercy, giving us the gift of salvation, which we do not deserve, but also extending mercy and not giving us the punishment that we do.

God is Faithful to His Covenant

The entire rationale for Nehemiah 9 comes back to a central piece of God’s character – his faithfulness. Specifically, Nehemiah references God’s faithfulness to the covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 15) and to Moses (Exodus 20-21). In these covenants, God initiates, and tells the Abraham that if he is faithful, he will have descendants that will out number the stars, and all the earth will be blessed. Likewise, with Moses God tells Moses and the people of Israel that if they keep his commandments, he will bless them; but if they chase after other gods, specifically those of the surrounding peoples, then the land that God gave to Abraham will be taken from them and they will no longer have the same freedoms that they had before.

Both of these things did come to pass. Abraham had a son, who had two sons, who then had 12 sons, and each had their own children. Before long, they had become a large family that became a people, and who would eventually become a nation. Out of that nation, we would get Jesus – specifically through the line of Judah, one of Abraham’s great-grandsons. The sins of the people would rear their ugly head in the book of Judges – which is essentially a spiral of the people sinning, crying out, God showing mercy, bringing victory to the Israelites, and then turning around to repeat the process only for the sin to become worse. Yet, God kept his side of the covenant. He showed grace and mercy to the people, and allowed for their to be judges who brought about revivals and a return to God’s word. Ultimately, God meets the demands of the covenant, but choosing to send his son, Jesus, to die on the cross to save people from their sin. Because death was the ultimate consequence for sin, and because we are sinful we are condemned to that fate. But God, in his mercy gave us a way to be reconciled to him – Jesus – who lived a perfect, sinless life and was killed on the cross in place of sinful man, that we might be brought back to God.

Final Thoughts

As hard as life is sometimes, I find comfort in knowing that God is consistent. He will always do what he says – even if it is not the way that I may want some thing to happen or when. He is the Creator, and he shows throughout scripture and history that he cares about the lives of those he has created. God provides. Yes, we do need to put forth effort, but he consistently provides ways for needs to be met. He is just in his dealing with his creation, but in his kindness he also extends to us grace and mercy that we do not deserve. And finally, God is eternally faithful. When we fail and mess up, God is still keeping his word. He still follows through on what he has said he would do. When life is hard, we have a God whose very being we can depend on.