Nehemiah 9:9-17 (NRSV)
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Verse 9"And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. Verse 10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. Verse 11And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. Verse 12Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go. Verse 13You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, Verse 14and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses. Verse 15For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them. Verse 16"But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; Verse 17they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.
Devotion
An eagle escaped from the San Francisco Zoo. It didn’t get very far. Unused to fending for itself, it had lost its predatory skills and forgotten its natural enemies. Within twelve hours its keepers lured the hungry bird back into captivity with little more than a dead mouse. In similar fashion, the Israelites were unused to the rigors of wilderness, and they finally chose the familiar comforts of slavery over the promises of freedom. Like eagles and Israelites in captivity, we too find the path of discipleship frightening and unfamiliar. We may register public complaint about everything that blocks God from view, but secretly we cling to it, fearing what may dazzle us with an abundance of love.
Prayer
God of all captives, break down the chains of our hearts, so that we can love you as you fashioned us to, and so that we can live in harmony with one another as you intended. Through Jesus, the one who called us out of slavery and into friendship, Amen.