HAVE YOU SIGNED ON THE DOTTED LINE? (15 OF 21)
by Mike Stone
Scripture: Nehemiah 9:38, Nehemiah 10:1-39
This content is part of a series.
Have You Signed on the Dotted Line? (15 of 21)
Series: Rebuilding - Questions From Nehemiah
Mike Stone
Nehemiah 9:38-10:39
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a famous poet from the 1800s. In one of her best-known poems, she asked one of literature's greatest questions, ''How do I love thee, let me count the ways.''
When she was a young teenager she fell in love with Robert Browning. They courted and even married in secret because of her father's strong disapproval. The young couple moved to Italy from where Elizabeth wrote her parents nearly every week. She grieved over their relationship, confessed her wrongdoing and begged their forgiveness.
After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all her letters not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most beautiful in English literature. The great tragedy is, the relationship was never restored because her father never opened the letters she wrote.
In a similar way, our fellowship can be strained with our Heavenly Father. But the problem in our case is not that the Father won't read our letters of confession but that we won't write them.
In Nehemiah 9, the people of God continue to pour their heart out in genuine confession. And they choose to codify that confession in an open letter to the Lord. This letter is one of the most important documents within the Word of God and it serves as a bit of an outline for the remainder of the book of Nehemiah.
Thankfully, we don't have to pick the lock on their diary to read it. It was a public press release at the time and the Holy Spirit made sure it was included in the canon of Scripture. As we read this letter, we should ask ourselves, ''Have I ever signed on the dotted line like that with the Lord?''
Let's consider 3 things about this letter.
The surrender they evidenced (9:38-10:29a)
Having been cut to the quick by the preaching of the Word and they come out of the foxholes of sin waving the flag of ...
Series: Rebuilding - Questions From Nehemiah
Mike Stone
Nehemiah 9:38-10:39
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a famous poet from the 1800s. In one of her best-known poems, she asked one of literature's greatest questions, ''How do I love thee, let me count the ways.''
When she was a young teenager she fell in love with Robert Browning. They courted and even married in secret because of her father's strong disapproval. The young couple moved to Italy from where Elizabeth wrote her parents nearly every week. She grieved over their relationship, confessed her wrongdoing and begged their forgiveness.
After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all her letters not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most beautiful in English literature. The great tragedy is, the relationship was never restored because her father never opened the letters she wrote.
In a similar way, our fellowship can be strained with our Heavenly Father. But the problem in our case is not that the Father won't read our letters of confession but that we won't write them.
In Nehemiah 9, the people of God continue to pour their heart out in genuine confession. And they choose to codify that confession in an open letter to the Lord. This letter is one of the most important documents within the Word of God and it serves as a bit of an outline for the remainder of the book of Nehemiah.
Thankfully, we don't have to pick the lock on their diary to read it. It was a public press release at the time and the Holy Spirit made sure it was included in the canon of Scripture. As we read this letter, we should ask ourselves, ''Have I ever signed on the dotted line like that with the Lord?''
Let's consider 3 things about this letter.
The surrender they evidenced (9:38-10:29a)
Having been cut to the quick by the preaching of the Word and they come out of the foxholes of sin waving the flag of ...
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