Happy and Stong

“Nehemiah told the people, ‘Enjoy your good food and wine and share some with those who didn’t have anything to bring. Don’t be sad! This is a special day for the Lord, and he will make you happy and strong.’” Nehemiah 8:10

Sadness is not the end product in repentance. There is no purpose in prolonged anguish or grief in response to our failings before God. There is a sorrow that is altogether appropriate when we are returning, coming back to renewed fellowship; but it is not meant to be the primary result of our return.

Nehemiah was busy rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that had fallen during Israel’s time of exile. The work finally completed, Nehemiah asked Ezra, the priest, to read from the Law of Moses. Everyone gathered, men women and children, and listened from early morning to noon.

When Ezra opened the book everyone stood up, Ezra praised the Lord, and the people all shouted, “Amen! Amen!” Bowing their faces to the ground, they worshipped the Lord. Following the reading, several assistant priests (Levites) went among the people and explained what Ezra had just read.

Hearing, and then understanding, the people started crying. I can imagine why. God had chosen Israel from the beginning to be His source of blessing to the rest of the world. He meant for them to carry His truth, and His goodness to the nations around them. They were to keep themselves unstained from the idolatrous practices of other nations, and to serve the Lord alone. In so doing, God would bless them over and over, making them great and prosperous.

But, if they did not obey, turning away from God and chasing the pagan idols and practices, God would cut off His goodness from them. Ever patient, God had waited through hundreds of years while Israel rebelled, sometimes returned, then rebelled all over again. Finally wandering so far from God that they hardly were recognizable as His people any longer, He allowed them to be overrun by foreign armies. Their capital Jerusalem was sacked, and a great many of the people were dispossessed into the enemy’s country.

Why wouldn’t they weep as they heard how God had chosen them, loved them, blessed and provided for them? Their sorrow must have been great when they realized how far they had strayed from God’s promises and commands. And weeping is appropriate for us, as well, when we are overcome with the knowledge that our lives still fall so far short of God’s incredible goodness.

But God does not desire for us to wallow in the tears. He never wants us to wear a look that appears to be doing perpetual penance. If anything, our tears should bring us full throttle to the cross where Jesus died on behalf of every one of our failures.

False religion abounds in keeping people unduly filled with grief. The weight of rule upon rule that we never live up to keeps us frightened at every step we take. False religion, on the other hand, can also leave out this step of sorrow, telling people God doesn’t care about things like morality, obedience or holiness.

But Nehemiah understands both the ways of God and the frailties of hearts broken realizing their own failure. He tells them, “This is a special day for the Lord your God.” I can’t write that phrase without a smile. God is glad that His people “heard”, and having heard, are cut to the core. Their response is a clear expression of sorrow that leads to repentance.

“This is a sacred day,” he says. The Lord “will make you happy and strong.” There it is; the end game. The final product of returning to God is meant to be joy! When our wandering hearts reunite with the forgiving God it should always removes the weight of sorrow and flood us with the awareness of inward joy.

To stay in the “grieving period” too long weighs us down and our sorrow actually turns into a “work” with which we hope to please God. We hope our tears are enough to make up for our failures, our crying some sort of holy payment. But, instead, when our tears are pure sorrow over hurting the lover of our Souls, and we experience His smile upon our sadness, we have no better response but to enjoy His goodness once again. Joy at His grace creates a much better inner strength than a religious sullenness never satisfied with complete cleansing that asks no payment at all.