They again did evil

"But after they had rest, They again did evil before You. Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, So that they had dominion over them; Yet when they returned and cried out to You, You heard from heaven; And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies, - Nehemiah 9v28

The temple was built. The walls were raised up. Worship was restored. There was great rejoicing. Everything looked great.

Then they had a period of rest.

Then ‘they again did evil.’

It reminds me of the time of the judges. Seven times the people went through this same cycle. They had a problem. They repented and turned to God. God answered and delivered them. They had a time of rest and peace. Then they sinned again.

The same thing happened in the Wilderness. Paul had the same experience.

And so do we.

I think we can all identify with this. We have a sin we are battling with. We realise it, confess it, and forsake it. God delivers us and we coast along for a while. Then we do the same thing again.

Why is this the case? Why is it so hard to break the cycle?

It’s pretty simple. We are delivered, free, reborn new creatures. But we still have to live in our flesh. When under control our flesh is capable of great service for our Lord. When left run riot it will turn to its old ways.

The ‘problem’ for us is that all of our excuses have been knocked out from under us. Sin has no power over us. We have been delivered from sin’s control. We have a new Master. The cycle can be broken.

Paul expressed it this way ‘Oh wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death?’ But the Paul has an answer – ‘I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.’

Our lives are going to be a constant struggle and a constant series of cycles. We cannot escape the flesh, but through Christ we can control it.

Our goal should be that the cases of ‘he again did evil’ become less and less as the years go by.