Day 11: A People Of Worship

And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. (Neh. 8:6)

In the first chapter of Nehemiah’s book, we see his concern for the people of the land, who were in “great distress.” But by the time we reach the eighth chapter we see that there has been a stunning transformation: they have become an army of worshippers.

God is in the reclamation business. His work in and through the people of Jerusalem had turned them away from self-pity and toward a God-centered confidence. What can He do with people like that? Well, what they and their children built would last for some five centuries.

Father, give us grace to yield to Your transforming power, that we, too, can become the kind of people who build things of lasting significance – people of enduring impact who can touch the generations who will follow us.