A Praise And A Request

In your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!

Nehemiah 9:31-32

Fifty-two days after they started, the people of Israel completed rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. For the next several weeks Nehemiah and the priests led the people in confession and in the reading of the Law. He asked them to renew their commitment to God and offer their worship to him. Nehemiah recounted how God had delivered the people time after time, and how the people had, in turn, disobeyed the Lord. In today’s passage, Nehemiah praised God for being faithful to his covenant despite his people’s sin. Then he asked God to once again show his people mercy and help them.

God does keep his promises. Like Nehemiah, let us pray and thank him for his faithfulness as we come before him with our requests as well.

• Merciful God, you have been faithful to your covenant with me and have not abandoned me . . .