Time to Pivot
NEHEMIAH 8:9-10
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
We have been reading through a new children’s Bible at our house. Why, you ask, would we need a new one? Because the blessed children literally ripped the last one to shreds in their frenetic zest for turning pages. You don’t want to be in our house once the sun goes down.
But, as in all things that seem disappointing at first, God worked it towards our good. This new Bible is amazing. It has given me a better perspective on so many stories I thought I knew.
In Nehemiah, the Israelites have been led out of slavery, but they have still managed to forget how to live in light of God’s rescue. And so, Nehemiah and Ezra step in to give a monster of a sermon that lasts all day and all night. Soon, everybody is weeping and tearing their clothes and the guilt trip has worked. The words hit home and God knew the PRECISE moment that they did, because He then has Nehamiah switch gears—from weeping with sorrow to weeping with joy because now it is time to rejoice at all the good God has done once more.
Here’s how the children’s Bible put it:
“’We’ve blown it,’ they cried. ‘Now God will punish us!’ They thought they knew what God was going to do. But they didn’t…Ezra looked at God’s children. Great hot tears were welling in their eyes and streaming down their cheeks. He stopped his sermon—mid-sentence—and shut the book. ‘We’re having a party!’ he shouted.”
And they did. They celebrated all the goodness.
I love this story for its pivot point. We all get stuck in lows. We all suffer guilt over sin or anxiety over our current situation or sadness over our past. But what I see in this story that I never saw before is God’s ability to inspire us to LET IT GO. He can literally stir up the Holy Spirit like a holy wind and sweep the clouds away to give us a better, bird’s-eye view. He wants us to understand and acknowledge when we have not trusted and followed Him. But then He wants us to celebrate, to stop worrying over it, and to “be happy” as Bob McFerrin puts it (because of course I can quote God and Bob in the same Sunday Thought).
So here’s my call to action for you today: pivot!
Let God help you release the worry or fear or anger or guilt or sadness, if only for a moment, and pivot towards a place of trust and joy. Party it up, my friends, for we are already on the road that leads us home!
P.S. The children’s book is The Jesus Storybook Bible by ZonderKids
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A big thank you from Jamie on The Mom Gene!
