After celebrating the Feast of Tabernacle there came the day of corporate mourning and fasting on the 24th day of the month. The people wore sackcloths, put dirt on themselves, and separated themselves from the foreigners.
Nehemiah 9:2 said that together they confessed the sins and iniquities
of their ancestors. Then they followed a format on that day. For a quarter of
the day, approximately 3 hours, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their
God. Then for another quarter of the day, they confessed and worshipped the LORD their
God. Verse 4 tells us that eight Levites, Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel,
Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, stood on a platform
and cried with a loud voice to the Lord their
God. They were probably reciting the prayer that had been written by Ezra
beforehand.
When God’s people encountered
him, the outcome would always be the realization of sin. This in turn would produce a willingness to repent. This was what
happened to the people. When the law was read, they saw how far they had fallen
and departed from the LORD. Then they were convicted and became deeply contrite. All that
resulted in the people turning to God in worship.
Here is something we learn about true repentance. It’s a process
that invariably involves the total man. Firstly,
a person’s mind activates when the word is read. Then what has been heard
would begin to make spiritual sense to the person. The Spirit of God would then
work in his or her heart to bring about contrition. It would be here that the person's will would respond to God allowing change and worship to take place. True repentance always begins with conviction leading to contrition and conversion.
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