Perseverance and Inheritance

I think Nehemiah and I would've been good friends. How do I know this? Because 5.7a reads, "I took counsel with myself..." He was his own best friend. He thrived on self-reflection and hard work. Sure he had counselors but ultimately, he was confident in his own knowledge of God's word- his promises.

...maybe we wouldn't have been friends. Nehemiah wouldn't appreciate that I've only got self-reflection- very little hard work. Or at least, not hard enough work to rebuild a wall. I might talk a lot about rebuilding walls (like the equivalent of talking about changing present day injustices)...

Yet more than self-reflection and hard work, Nehemiah asks God twice (5.19; 13.31) "Remember for my good...all that I have done for this [your] people."

In the first chapter, Nehemiah writes, "(8) Remember the word that you commanded Moses saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, (9) but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place I have chosen, to make my name dwell there."

Verse 6b, Nehemiah writes/prays, "Even I and my father's house have sinned."

I'm pretty sure Nehemiah is looking back on the sins of his ancestors (and obviously his own sins) because they've yet to be forgiven. Now he acknowledges them (even on behalf of his people: scattered, outcasts) to say, "We know to do better. We will do better. We will keep our half of the covenant. So that you will keep your half, God. Please." 

That was the original deal. 

They don't return to the Promised Land to rebuild the walls to boost morale and thwart enemies' threats, but to keep on the promises made to their ancestors.

Of course, that's a lot of pressure: to keep up a promise you inherited. How is that fair? It certainly wasn't your decision to partake in that promise- to want that promise; to reap the benefits or consequences of that promise. I don't want it. 

Yeah, I don't want to be an adult anymore, but my not wanting it doesn't change a thing. I'm still an adult. You're still in that promise. (That's as far as that comparison goes.)

Still, why should you suffer the consequences of your father's choices?

Well, yes and no. Certainly, you can hardly be imprisoned for a robbery that your great-grandfather committed, but then if your great-grandfather worked hard, and became successful, only to die for you to take on a Fortune 500 company... Both are consequences, one is 'bad' and the other is 'good'- but they're still both consequences, and you still reap something from both of them: either a bad reputation, or a lot of money- both still entail a lot of pressure. 

Nehemiah is asking God to uphold a promise God made to Moses. Nehemiah is not Moses. Moses didn't even get to see the promised land. Actually, let's go even further back! Abraham didn't get to see the promised land. He didn't even get enough children to outnumber the stars- he just got the one kid. And yet, the promise God made to each of these forefather's- the promise was made to be inherited by future generations. 

Because that's what an inheritance is: a promise to future generations. Nehemiah inherited negative consequences because of the poor choices of his father. He's giving his future positive consequences--blessings, in fact. 

"Here, future. God remembers the evil we've done, but much more, he remembers the good. Take it. Take the good. Keep doing good. Thrive behind the proud walls of this, the Promised Land. Remember where our ancestors once were- don't go back into slavery and exile."

Maybe further still, when Nehemiah asks God to remember him for his good, "Look, I've done this for you because you were true to your word: you sent us into exile until we kept our word. Now I'm keeping my word. Please. Preserve my nation. Preserve your nation."