In Nehemiah 8, Ezra read the Bible to the assembled crowd and explained it to them. They responded by bowing to the Lord in worship, but Nehemiah 8:10 says that they also wept because they became aware of their negligence in observing the Feast of Booths. This feast remembered the Lord bringing them through the wilderness on the way to Canaan. During this time, they lived in booths or tents. Interestingly, Exodus34 taught them that this was to be commemorated during the time of harvest. They looked back to how the Lord sustained them in the past as they rejoiced in His current provision.
As believers, we rejoice in what the Lord has done for us in saving us, but we also sing a new song of what the Lord is doing in our lives today. Psalm 40:2-3 speaks of the Lord work in the past, bringing him out of the horrible pit, but then it says that the Lord has put a new song in his mouth. This new song means that the believer rejoices in a fresh experience of God every day. 1 Peter 1:6 says that the believer is grieved by various trials in order to test and purify our faith. Verses 8-9 say, “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” The life of faith is that of taking God at His word and living by what He has said. 1 Peter 2:6 says that the one who trusts the Lord will never be disappointed in Him. Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.
Dear discouraged believer, look back to what God has done for you as you remember that He has not let you down today. Isaiah 12:3 says that we are to drink deeply from the wells of salvation. This is not only what He has done for us, but what He is doing and the reality that the best is yet to come. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 say, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” God’s eternal joy for us is greater than we can understand, but He has revealed it to us in His Word.
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