When we come to Nehemiah, we find a people broken. They have known nothing more than defeat and domination for generations. Their home is in ruins. The promises that their nation was built on seemed like distant stars, whose light is barely able to reach us. This people had every reason to play the part of a victim, to wallow in their defeat and complain about all that had passed. So God’s actions within the heart of Nehemiah were nothing less than a transformation for his people.

Following the restoration of the walls, the confidence built in the people, we might expect to see retribution on those who had so long oppressed them. Instead, we find a people who is aware of their own failure:

On October 31 the people returned for another observance. This time they fasted and dressed in sackcloth and sprinkled dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. The Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them for about three hours. Then for three more hours they took turns confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord their God.

Nehemiah 9:1-3Nehemiah 9:1-3
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
The People Confess Their Sins ^{9 1} On the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, f seventh month: Hebrew “same month.” the people of Israel went without eating, and they dressed in sackcloth and threw dirt on their heads to show their sorrow. ² They refused to let foreigners join them, as they met to confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors. ³ For three hours they stood and listened to the Law of the Lord their God, and then for the next three hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord.

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Not only aware, but ready to do something about it. They heard and were challenged by reading the Scriptures, and it encouraged them to go even further. And in the end, rather than blaming others, they looked at themselves. And if we look at the law, we realize that they had good reason to. The reason they were in exile was the sin of those who came before them, their distant relatives. Their own sin had held them in bondage under more powerful nations. Their own sin threatened to destroy the efforts to rebuild (Nehemiah 5).

I imagine they had heard from the book of Deuteronomy, If you refuse to obey all the terms…then the Lord will overwhelm you…For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other…There among the nations you will find no place of security and rest…Your lives will hang in doubt. You will live night and day in fear with no reason to believe that you will see the morning light.  (Deuteronomy 28) These are hard words, the second of a pair of statements: the first blessings, the second curses. Sin would bring devastating results on the entire nation. Both individually, and as an entire community. They became deeply aware of how sin had affected them and their families – how it continued to jeopardize all that had been done already.

And if they heard these words, they likely also heard these soon after:

Suppose all these things happen to you – the blessings and the curses  I have listed – and you meditate on them as you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled  you. If at that time you return to the Lord your God, and you and your children begin wholeheartedly to obey all the commands I have given today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. Though you are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will go and find you and bring you back again. He will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. He will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!

The Lord your God will cleanse your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you will love him with all your heart and soul, so that you may live!

Deuteronomy 30:1-6Deuteronomy 30:1-6
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
30 The Lord Will Bring You Back Moses said to Israel: ¹ I have told you everything the Lord your God will do for you, and I've also told you the curses he will put on you if you reject him. He will scatter you in faraway countries, but when you realize that he is punishing you, ² return to him with all your heart and soul and start obeying the commands I have given to you today. ³-⁴ Then he will stop punishing you and treat you with kindness. He may have scattered you to the farthest countries on earth, but he will bring you back ⁵ to the land that had belonged to your ancestors and make you even more successful and powerful than they ever were. ⁶ You and your descendants are stubborn, but the Lord will make you willing to obey him and love him with all your heart and soul, and you will enjoy a long life.

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God had stated that sin would destroy them as a nation, as a community, as the people of God. But he promised also that if they returned to him with their whole beings, they would find restoration; as individuals, but even more, as the nation and people of God. And so the people humbled themselves hearing the law. They declared their sin and the sin of those who came before them. And they worshiped the God who was able to restore. They turned from selfish behaviors that endangered the newly growing community.

Building community begins with this awareness and ownership of our own failures. Community built on shared antagonism against the “other” can build strong attachments, but it isn’t what God is after. Community built on a common background of pain and suffering can build strong bonds of connection, but it lacks the power of thanksgiving, of hope and potential in God’s plan. But community built on shared recognition of sin, and on the experience of God’s power to restore and bring life, is unstoppable.

So what part do you play in helping the body of believers to address sin? Are you actively approaching God and seeking forgiveness yourself? Are you honest with others about your own thoughts and behaviors, or do you wear a mask? Are you encouraging other believers to go to God to seek forgiveness? Do you challenge others in the body to be transparent with each other? Or do you promote and tolerate an atmosphere of “each to his own”?