On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight a final characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

God’s movement included an invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past.

Again, you might recall that the Israelites gathered to hear God’s Word read and they responded by confessing their sin. A group of men stood and led the people to worship God.

They called the people to worship Him by recounting His faithfulness to the Israelite nation throughout previous generations. In fact, Nehemiah 9:5-37 records their act of remembering God’s work from creation to their present day.

One reason so many individuals and churches fail to see God’s power manifested in His extraordinary movement stems from our terrible memory. Many people are too ignorant biblically to know what God did in the past. Others are so preoccupied with what God can do for them today to care about what He did in the past. Still others are too busy to remember God’s faithfulness in even their own lives last week.

Our short memories hinder our worship God. And our dispassionate worship hinders our ability to experience the extraordinary work of God. We will value God supremely (or worship Him) when we consider more fully the breadth and depth of His work in our lives and throughout history.

Until we understand and embrace God’s extraordinary work in the past to the degree that it elicits worship, we are not likely to see His extraordinary work in the present.

God, we ask you to lead us to worship you by reminding us of your faithfulness in the past. We pray that you would draw us to read your Word and to glean a greater understanding of your faithfulness. We ask you to give us the discipline to record even the smallest incidents of your faithfulness in our lives so that we can praise you for each of them in the future.

How serious is our cavalier attitude toward sin? How pervasive are our assaults on God? We scarcely even know. Consider this verse.

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Romans 2:4 (ESV)

Romans 2:4 appears in a larger passage in which Paul is highlighting the universal need for God’s salvation. His question points to the mistaken idea that a person can continue willfully in sin and escape God’s judgment. More specifically, he addresses the person who claims to have received God’s mercy for salvation and then continues living disobediently under the presumption that this limitless mercy will expand along with his sin.

For a believer to continue in willful defiance of God’s standard reflects an unbelievable assumption about His kindness at best and a blatant contempt for it at worst. In other words, an assumption that God’s patience is rich enough to cover my continued, willful sin reveals a staggering misinterpretation of the text.

God’s longsuffering generosity toward sinful mankind is an instrument of repentance not continued rebellion. The person who genuinely experiences God’s mercy in the forgiveness of sin is compelled FROM sin not led TOWARD it.

And yet, even more is at stake. To continue in open rebellion to God reflects an arrogant disregard for His patience. In effect, a person shows a disdain for the reality of God’s kindness as he swaps it for a license to sin.

So, let’s take a moment to consider our attitude toward God’s kindness. Do I really like God’s kindness for what it really is? Or maybe we should ask the question differently. Have I looked to God’s mercy to ease my conscience regarding sin or do I look to God’s kindness as a means of carving sin from my life?