At eighteen years old, I couldn\u2019t wait to move out of my parents\u2019 house. Tired of rules and boundaries, I was certain that a life of freedom and unbridled joy awaited me outside those four walls. Upon my arrival as a freshman at the University of Georgia nearly twenty years ago, I was naive. I mistakenly believed that the opportunity to make my own rules would afford me great joy. Instead, I found myself floundering as I struggled to make friends, dealt with loneliness, and questioned what it took to be a \u201creal adult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Nehemiah 9, the Israelites took the time to reflect on their relationship with God. They fasted and confessed their sins, acknowledging the mistakes they made and the faithfulness of the God who chose to stay with them through grace upon grace upon grace. Much like a teenager desperate to spread her wings, the Israelites\u2019 journey was one of desiring independence yet longing for security and safety. As the Israelites recognized the futility of their efforts to detach themselves from God, they also saw His kindness that had touched each generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mom loves to say, \u201cHindsight is 20\/20,\u201d meaning that when we look back on our lives with the gift of perspective, we have a much clearer picture of reality than when we are in the midst of it. The Israelites are known for their forgetfulness and penchant for rebellion. As we sit here reading their story several thousand years later, it can be tempting to judge their fickleness or faithlessness. But when we reflect on our experiences with honesty, we each have seasons or situations in which we ignored God\u2019s best for our lives because we thought we knew better. How many times have you said \u201cNo, thank you\u201d to God\u2019s plans for our lives because we didn\u2019t want to surrender?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nehemiah 10 tells us a story of a repentant people. A people tired of trying so hard with nothing to show for it. A people desperate for God\u2019s blessing. A people longing to see His face and walk with Him. In Zechariah 10:12, the Lord says, \u201cI will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will march in his name.\u201d When we turn from our striving and learn to surrender to His plans, the Lord strengthens us. We don\u2019t have to try to figure everything out on our own, hoping God will be proud of us for solving our problems. No, instead we can trust that the God of the universe knows our needs and the desires of our hearts and that He is working all things together for our good. When we look back at our lives and see the times when we turned away from Him, we can thank Him for His protection and live our lives from the posture of a grateful heart, ready for whatever He has in store for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At eighteen years old, I couldn\u2019t wait to move out of my parents\u2019 house. Tired of rules and boundaries, I was certain that a life of freedom and unbridled joy awaited me outside those four walls. Upon my arrival as a freshman at the University of Georgia nearly twenty years ago, I was naive. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":72540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72758","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":"ISRAEL'S VOW<\/b>
\r\nby Jessica Mathisen<\/i>
\r\n
At eighteen years old, I couldn\u2019t wait to move out of my parents\u2019 house. Tired of rules and boundaries, I was certain that a life of freedom and unbridled joy awaited me outside those four walls. Upon my arrival as a freshman at the University of Georgia nearly twenty years ago, I was naive. I mistakenly believed that the opportunity to make my own rules would afford me great joy. Instead, I found myself floundering as I struggled to make friends, dealt with loneliness, and questioned what it took to be a \u201creal adult.\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
In Nehemiah 9, the Israelites took the time to reflect on their relationship with God. They fasted and confessed their sins, acknowledging the mistakes they made and the faithfulness of the God who chose to stay with them through grace upon grace upon grace. Much like a teenager desperate to spread her wings, the Israelites\u2019 journey was one of desiring independence yet longing for security and safety. As the Israelites recognized the futility of their efforts to detach themselves from God, they also saw His kindness that had touched each generation.<\/p>
\r\n
My mom loves to say, \u201cHindsight is 20\/20,\u201d meaning that when we look back on our lives with the gift of perspective, we have a much clearer picture of reality than when we are in the midst of it. The Israelites are known for their forgetfulness and penchant for rebellion. As we sit here reading their story several thousand years later, it can be tempting to judge their fickleness or faithlessness. But when we reflect on our experiences with honesty, we each have seasons or situations in which we ignored God\u2019s best for our lives because we thought we knew better. How many times have you said \u201cNo, thank you\u201d to God\u2019s plans for our lives because we didn\u2019t want to surrender?<\/p>
\r\n
Nehemiah 10 tells us a story of a repentant people. A people tired of trying so hard with nothing to show for it. A people desperate for God\u2019s blessing. A people longing to see His face and walk with Him. In Zechariah 10:12, the Lord says, \u201cI will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will march in his name.\u201d When we turn from our striving and learn to surrender to His plans, the Lord strengthens us. We don\u2019t have to try to figure everything out on our own, hoping God will be proud of us for solving our problems. No, instead we can trust that the God of the universe knows our needs and the desires of our hearts and that He is working all things together for our good. When we look back at our lives and see the times when we turned away from Him, we can thank Him for His protection and live our lives from the posture of a grateful heart, ready for whatever He has in store for us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"15","scripture":"Nehemiah 9:38, Nehemiah 10:1-39, Zechariah 10:6-12, Romans 6:16-19","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\/72758","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\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}