Nehemiah 9:7-8 (ESV Strong's)
You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.
You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
Truth: God keeps His promises.
In the above couple of verses we have a portion of Nehemiah's prayer before the people. He has assembled all the leadership and the follower-ship and makes a confession-petition type prayer before God. They were being oppressed by a number of groups in the land and Nehemiah knew it was due to their own sin and that God was the Person to seek relief. In the prayer he works through Israel's long history of rebellion, repentance, rebellion, repentance, repeat! In these two verses he is beginning the prayer by reflecting on the call of Abraham. He confesses that God "chose" Abram and renamed him, Abraham; as well as gave Abraham the promise of the land. This is key to their spirit to rebuild the city of Jerusalem (the main thought of the book of Nehemiah). Since God gave the land to Abraham and they were in the land (currently still being oppressed), then the land was theirs!!! Nehemiah then proclaims, "And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous." This is the key motivator to the reason for the book and the lesson we are to learn. If God gave them the land they should not shrink back in defeat. They should boldly move forward to proclaim God's promise(s) and live boldly before their enemies, who are oppressing them. God wants us to live in light of His promises and that He is a righteous God and must, therefore, keep His promises. That is supreme motivation. I am not bold because of my strength (Nehemiah confesses they continually fail). I am bold because of the righteous promises of God!!
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