Repentance is an integral part in our walk with Jesus, yet it is rarely a practice we\u2019re eager to learn about. It isn\u2019t exactly fun to examine areas where we have sinned, strayed, and turned to our own ways. From the beginning, humanity has held the desire to go our own way and hide in shame from the Lord. The truth is, not much has changed since Adam and Eve\u2019s fig leaf days. From the demands of life that distract us away from the Word to the \u201dsmall\u201d step into sin that snowballs into a stronghold, we have all experienced the sorrow of being distant from God. As a result we may wear our shame as a banner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we fall to temptation, we may carry the title of sin through our lives. Let\u2019s take a moment to reflect on times when we have fallen short and although we were repentant, may have rehashed our shortcomings over and over\u2014we may have labeled ourselves as \u201cliar,\u201d \u201cfailure,\u201d or \u201cfraud,\u201d and spent time and energy on our grief rather than His goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet repentance does not require living in shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Repentance brings us restoration with the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From today\u2019s reading we look at the people gathered at the Water Gate on the first day of the seventh month. The people came as one (Nehemiah 8:1), desiring to hear Scripture (vv.6\u20137) and wept over the sins they had committed. We see the people displaying pure humility by unifying themselves, attentively listening to the law and bowing and weeping in worship of God. The sorrow of a torn relationship with their Creator was all consuming. Our God responded through Ezra with a comfort: Celebrate this holy day of restoration rather than focus on their sin in mourning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Repentance is not a spotlight on our shortcomings. Repentance is a restoration of what was lost and can be a celebration of what is now found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do not grieve, because the joy of the LORD is your strength. God\u2019s response to repentance is to reveal His joy in us. When the law exposed their faults, God saw their humble hearts. Where the people grieved their missteps, God saw their desire to rebuild with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it is good to grieve our own sin, God gently reminds us to not wear the label of it. Instead of focusing on our failures, God calls us to celebrate and praise His goodness to forgive and rebuild. We are not consumed by sin. We are set free to repent and celebrate who our God is. Today, let this reading of Scripture bring you to stillness, repentance, and unity with our Creator. His joy in us will bring us strength.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Repentance is an integral part in our walk with Jesus, yet it is rarely a practice we\u2019re eager to learn about. It isn\u2019t exactly fun to examine areas where we have sinned, strayed, and turned to our own ways. From the beginning, humanity has held the desire to go our own way and hide in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":72539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nehemiah25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72617],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PUBLIC READING OF THE LAW<\/b> Repentance is an integral part in our walk with Jesus, yet it is rarely a practice we\u2019re eager to learn about. It isn\u2019t exactly fun to examine areas where we have sinned, strayed, and turned to our own ways. From the beginning, humanity has held the desire to go our own way and hide in shame from the Lord. The truth is, not much has changed since Adam and Eve\u2019s fig leaf days. From the demands of life that distract us away from the Word to the \u201dsmall\u201d step into sin that snowballs into a stronghold, we have all experienced the sorrow of being distant from God. As a result we may wear our shame as a banner.<\/p> As we fall to temptation, we may carry the title of sin through our lives. Let\u2019s take a moment to reflect on times when we have fallen short and although we were repentant, may have rehashed our shortcomings over and over\u2014we may have labeled ourselves as \u201cliar,\u201d \u201cfailure,\u201d or \u201cfraud,\u201d and spent time and energy on our grief rather than His goodness.<\/p> Yet repentance does not require living in shame.<\/p> Repentance brings us restoration with the Lord.<\/p> From today\u2019s reading we look at the people gathered at the Water Gate on the first day of the seventh month. The people came as one (Nehemiah 8:1), desiring to hear Scripture (vv.6\u20137) and wept over the sins they had committed. We see the people displaying pure humility by unifying themselves, attentively listening to the law and bowing and weeping in worship of God. The sorrow of a torn relationship with their Creator was all consuming. Our God responded through Ezra with a comfort: Celebrate this holy day of restoration rather than focus on their sin in mourning.<\/p> Repentance is not a spotlight on our shortcomings. Repentance is a restoration of what was lost and can be a celebration of what is now found.<\/p> Do not grieve, because the joy of the LORD is your strength.\u00a0 God\u2019s response to repentance is to reveal His joy in us. When the law exposed their faults, God saw their humble hearts. Where the people grieved their missteps, God saw their desire to rebuild with Him.<\/p> While it is good to grieve our own sin, God gently reminds us to not wear the label of it. Instead of focusing on our failures, God calls us to celebrate and praise His goodness to forgive and rebuild. We are not consumed by sin. We are set free to repent and celebrate who our God is. Today, let this reading of Scripture bring you to stillness, repentance, and unity with our Creator. His joy in us will bring us strength.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"11","scripture":"Nehemiah 7:73, Nehemiah 8:1-18, Deuteronomy 10:12-22, 1 John 2:3-6","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014Nehemiah 8:10<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Sarah Wood<\/i>
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\u2014Nehemiah 8:10<\/em><\/p>
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