Nehemiah 8:1-8

Nehemiah 8:1-8
English Standard Version (ESV)

 Scripture should change us.  Here, the people of God have been through traumatic times, bounced around and threatened by major forces.  Their town was in ruins, and then God sent Nehemiah to restore their fortunes.  The wall has been rebuilt, and the people want to live their lives in response to what God has done.  They read the Law as a reminder of God's providence and God's will for their lives.
  In the same way, we should turn to Scripture out of gratitude.  We, too, undergo trauma and are threatened by forces bigger than us.  Our life can end up in ruins, and it is only through the grace of God that we find the strength and community to help us rebuild, to piece everything back together and move forward, step by step, with a new understanding of how good God is to us.  We owe everything to God, for he made us and we are his, and he has given us the gift of Scripture so that we might know the truth about God's love and so that we might live in grateful response to him.