Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ Nehemiah 1:8-9
“After the confession of sins and the effect it had regarding the breaking of the covenant, Nehemiah sketches the result of the sin. The result is that the sinners will be scattered among the nations…Here in Nehemiah the curse on the treason is balanced by two significant verbs, return and keep. Covenantal language is used. In the covenant, as also in ancient Near Eastern treaties, the curses were balanced by blessings. If one transgressed the stipulations, the curse would come into operation, but if one kept the stipulations, the blessing would be bestowed. It was an either/or choice.”
Charles Fensham in The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; 1983) 155.
My word for 2021 is remember. Here God’s servant uses the term to ask God to be faithful to His covenant and promises even when we are not. Of course, God never forgets “the word” though often we do. To call God “remember the word” is a cry out to God for help.
That’s how I feel led to start 2021. Let’s take the posture of fasting, confession, and prayer like Nehemiah, and ask God to come to our aid, to restore what is broken. I will do it for myself and my people in the USA. Wherever you are, invite others to join you. Echo this prayer for yourself and your people.
To grow in generosity, we must be in a position to receive blessings by grace. Individually, we soak in the word and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, then we return and keep His commands. Collectively, we must follow standards and make sure our lives and ministries reflect a consistent witness to a watching world.
Father in heaven, forgive me and my people for our greed, idolatry, sinfulness, and selfishness in America. We have abandoned your ways and forgotten the Word. As we return to you and keep your commands, bless us individually and in community so we extend compassionate generosity in 2021 and beyond. Hear our prayer in your mercy in the name of Jesus. Amen!