April 30, 2006 · Nehemiah 9:5–6

Nehemiah 8-13

“The first part is what I would call the praise session. As all true prayers should start it starts off with a blessed be your glorious name, some type of acknowledging of God's grandeur. They begin with a confession of God as creator of the universe and the God of Abraham and his descendants specifically because they understand their history. This is the beginning of all faith and wisdom. Acknowledgement of the power of majesty, supremacy of the Father. So they confess God's glory and after they have this praise session they move into a history lesson. Basically it's all about Israel's love, ignore relationship with God. The Levites begin to describe the interaction of God with his people from time immoral. It's part of the Jewish tradition is to remember the God of history, the God who acts in history. This isn't a deus God. This is a God who actually acts in our world.”