But as soon as they were at rest …

^{Nehemiah 9 ...7} “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to giveto his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.

 ⁹ “You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea. ^{[b] 10} You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. ¹¹ You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. ¹² By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

 ¹³ “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. ¹⁴ You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. ¹⁵ In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.

 ¹⁶ “But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. ¹⁷ They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, ¹⁸ even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

 ¹⁹ “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. ²⁰ You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. ²¹ For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

 ²²“You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. ²³ You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess. ²⁴ Their sons went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you handed the Canaanites over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. ²⁵They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.

 ²⁶ “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. ²⁷ So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

 ²⁸ “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

I know this is a long passage, but it says so much. It says so much about us and God, and the relationship He seeks to have with us.

I look at the verbs of God … chose, brought, named, found, made, give, kept, saw, heard, sent, knew, divided, hurled, led, came, spoke, brought, told.

And then I look at the response of those He was doing things for … they were arrogant, stiff-necked, refused to listen, failed to remember, and longed to return to their slavery.

BUT God … the words in red are filled with hope. He is faithful when we are not, He is forgiving and compassionate when we least deserve it. He sustained them for 40 years as they complained and complained. After all those red letters of hope …

They responded with disobedience and rebellion, lawlessness and murder … even blasphemy.

BUT they cried out … and He heard them. As if He had been listening all along … listening hard for the first cry.

The line that troubles me the most: But as soon as they were at rest … I wish that were followed with something like “they realized their wrong and humbly turned to God, never to turn away again.” But that ’s not what it says. Yet, He continues to rescue when one of His children cries out. Time after time.

I hope that I never again experience the rest of God and then turn my back on Him … but I fear that I may. I hope that I never again put His law behind my back … but I fear that I may. I hope that I avoid disobedience and rebelliousness … but it’s not likely. Shamefully, my track record follows that of the Israelites … turn to Him, rest, turn from Him, cry out, turn to Him, rest.

I put my hope in His track record … I cry, He hears, He rescues, He holds, He gives me rest, He delivers with compassion … time after time.