Nehemiah 9:32

Nehemiah 9:32 says. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.  The priests then acknowledged the power of God, Who they said was both merciful and terrible and prayed that He would not destroy them as He had destroyed or allowed to be destroyed the people of Israel in the past.  God will one day seem terrible to those who do not accept His gift of salvation, but He is a merciful God Who has already provided a way for everyone to escape punishment for their sins.  Of course, they must accept that merciful gift in order for it to apply to them. 

Verse thirty-three adds, Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:  They acknowledged the justness of God, and so must we.  They said God had done what was right and they had done wickedly.  This will always be the case.  If we suffer everlasting punishment for our sins it will be because we chose to and not because God is acting unjustly.   

Verse thirty-four continues, Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.  They then acknowledged that their rulers had not obeyed God.  We are not condemned for the sinful actions of our leaders, but we need to pray that they will be Godly men and women who seek to do God’s will. 

Verse thirty-five states, For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.  They further stated that even though God had given them a large and prosperous land that they did not obey Him.  God has given everyone a much greater gift today, and that is salvation through putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, but many people still refuse to acknowledge Him. 

Verse thirty-six adds, Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:  They said they were God’s servants in the land that He had given them.  We will always be servants of God as Christians and never be over Him. 

Verse thirty-seven continues, And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.  They acknowledged that God was the One Who had given them prosperity in the land that He had given them when they were obedient to Him. They also said the kings that God had set over them took much of their increase in wealth and even had dominion over their bodies because of their sins. They had failed to keep God as their King, and this was the beginning of their troubles.   I don’t believe that this means we will have everything that we want today as followers of Christ, but God has already given us the greatest blessing, and that is everlasting life with Him in the place that He has prepared for us, and if we aren't careful, those in power over us will profit from it more than we do.   

Verse thirty-eight concludes, And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.  They then said that because of what God had done for them that they were making a sure covenant with Him.  They wrote it down and the priests and Levites, as the spiritual leaders, had sealed it.  We are made a part of God’s kingdom because He has provided the only way to salvation and if we accept this merciful gift, the God Himself seals us as His.