Nehemiah 9 and 10 two remarkable Chapters in the Bible. The main aim of these chapters are to tell us about the Israelites confession to God. However I think how they go about it is very different than how you or I might approach the same thing. Lets break it down into 3 stages that I can see.
They start with worship
Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 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. Nehemiah 9:5-6
They don’t jump straight into talking about how bad they have been but instead they talk about how good God is. Why do they do this? Obviously I can’t be 100% sure but my best guess is that they are firstly reminding themselves who it is they are talking to, and secondly, they are resetting their perspective. That’s what worship does even in times of confession.
They continue by remembering
Even after they have declared how good God is they don’t confess their sin. They begin to recount the story of God and His people beginning with Abraham and the Egyptian exile. They continue to trace the story through their generations paying careful attention to remind themselves of Gods compassion to them and their ancestors stubbonness in turning away from God.
But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies. Nehemiah 9:17-18a
I think this is such an important step and one that we rarely do. We so often forget to mark the moments God intervened even when we turned our backs on Him.
They land it in today
In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly. Nehemiah 9:33
After the process of remembering they conclude where they have got to and where they are at. They tell God that they are in great distress and are slaves once again.
They agree their tomorrow
They don’t simply leave it by admitting their wrongdoing, they commit to what they are going to do about it.
In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.” Nehemiah 9:38
They list the names of people who agree to it and then they set out what they will bring to God. They then set out what they will do, focusing on marriage, sabbath and generosity. They conclude with this.
…..,We will not neglect the house of our God. Nehemiah 10:39
Interestingly they don’t ask anything of God in this moment, its all about what they will bring.
I find how they approach their wrongdoing really interesting. I wonder how we approach confession in our own lives and it there is something we could learn from this.
Could we begin by declaring what is everlasting?
Could we remind ourselves of His mercy and grace in the past and therefore in our present moment?
Could we commit to agreeing what our tomorrows should look like?