When the Word Brings Us Back

Reflection

I have always loved reading and studying Scripture. Even when I was young, I wanted to know what I was reading and understand what I was hearing. I wanted to know what the words meant and what God was saying through them. I don't think that desire has ever completely left me, even during those seasons when my life did not reflect it very well.

The problem wasn't that God had moved—we had simply stopped listening as closely as we once had.

There have been times in my life when I drifted farther from God than I should have. Looking back, one of the first things I notice about those seasons is how Scripture reading became less important. The Bible did not stop being God's Word, but I stopped making time to hear it. Little by little, the distance grew, and eventually I could look back and see how far I had wandered.

That is one reason I find Nehemiah 8 so moving. The people had returned to Jerusalem after years of exile, and the walls of the city had been rebuilt. Yet as Ezra stood before the people and read the Law of God, they began to understand just how much they had neglected. The Word was being read and explained so that the people could understand it, and what they heard reached deeply into their hearts.

Their response was sorrow. They heard what God had commanded. They realized how far their lives had fallen short. They recognized that there were things they had neglected and that they had not been walking according to the Word they had received. Their tears were not simply emotional. They were responding to the realization that they had drifted from what God had commanded them to do.

Called Beyond Sorrow

Have you ever had a moment like that? Have you ever opened Scripture after a period of spiritual distance and suddenly seen something differently? Perhaps a passage that you had read many times before suddenly exposed something in your own heart. You realized that the problem wasn't that God had moved. You had simply stopped listening as closely as you once had.

There is something important about what happened next. Nehemiah told the people, "Mourn not, nor weep." That might seem strange at first. If they had recognized their sin, shouldn't they have continued mourning? But this was a holy day. The people were gathered together to observe the Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration God had commanded Israel to keep. They had heard the Law, they had been convicted by it, and now they were being called to something beyond sorrow.

They were being called to rejoice. Their conviction was not meant to leave them hopeless. The Word had exposed where they were, but God's purpose was not to crush them beneath the weight of what they had discovered. Their sorrow could become the beginning of restoration rather than the end of the story.

Turning Back Toward Hope

Sometimes we can make the same mistake. When we recognize how far we have drifted, we can become so disappointed in ourselves that we remain focused on our failure. We replay the choices we made, think about the time we wasted, and wonder how we could have allowed ourselves to get so far away. Yet there comes a point when we must stop looking only at where we have been and begin looking again toward the God who is calling us back.

That is one of the beautiful things about Scripture. The Word of God does not merely tell us what is wrong. It reveals the God who is right, faithful, merciful, and ready to restore. It can bring conviction when we need conviction, correction when we need correction, and encouragement when our hearts are weary. When we return to the Word, we are not simply returning to a book. We are allowing God to speak into our lives again.

And for those of us who belong to Christ, we have an even greater reason for hope. Jesus Christ has accomplished what we could never accomplish for ourselves. His sacrifice provides forgiveness for our sins, and His righteousness is given to those who trust in Him. When the Word exposes our failures, we do not have to hide from God in shame. We can come to Him through Christ, confess our sins, receive His forgiveness, and continue walking with Him.

Perhaps you have noticed that your own time in Scripture has become less frequent. Perhaps prayer has become more of a routine than a relationship, or maybe you have slowly become comfortable living at a distance from God. If so, don't allow the realization of that distance to convince you that there is no way back.

Open the Word again. Listen again. Let it speak to you again.
The Scriptures that reveal our wandering point us back toward the One calling us home.

Before You Go

If Scripture has ever revealed something in your life that you would rather not see, remember that conviction is not the same thing as condemnation. There is a difference between the sorrow that leads us back to God and the shame that tells us we are too far gone to return. God's Word may show us things we have neglected, attitudes we need to surrender, or areas where we have wandered, but He does not reveal them so that we can remain buried beneath them. He reveals them so that we can turn our hearts back toward Him.

So if you have drifted, don't wait until you feel spiritually strong enough to return. Pick up your Bible. Open the Scriptures. Begin again, even if it has been a long time since you last read with the same hunger you once had. Let the Word remind you of who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised. Then let your sorrow give way to the joy of knowing that through Jesus Christ, forgiveness is available, restoration is possible, and you are never beyond the reach of God's grace.