Nehemiah 7:1-6

Recurrent Thought

• Yahweh, is a God that remembers and responds with Grace to handle our situations

The Christian Walk is not a sprint but a marathon. The path they walk on is narrow and many times it meanders with lots of turns and twists. This walk is only meaningful when done by faith. Most believers, due to the fact that they don’t engage in faith, they wander in confusion. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Faith helps us behind the imposing mountains of impossibilities, difficulties, sufferings, or anything that stands on our way. Unfortunately, many believers end up in situations where they are convinced that God does not remember them, they are forgotten and they are irrelevant. The adventure of Nehemiah is the story of restoration of a people. It is a story in which God speaks that he remembers His People. The world may forget; History books may ignore. Even families may overlook. But God does not forget.

Background & Over View

Five Ways in Which God Remembers us!

1. He Secures Our Future (7:1-4)
   • We come to the reality that even when the walls were finished it did not imply safety is guaranteed.  Nehemiah did not relax. He appointed gatekeepers, singers, and Levites.
   • When God remembers His people, He protects what He has rebuilt.
   • It is a critical for us to understand that God wants us transformed. God Establishes Order After Victory. Transformation for you follows the victory of Jesus on the Cross
   • To secure the Victory, he made Nehemiah appointed leaders: Hanani and Hananiah (v.2).
   • Victory requires vigilance. Spiritual success must be guarded.
   • Don’t stop guarding that which Jesus already won on Calvary
   • After God restores your life, guard it diligently. Guard your prayer life, Your family etc
   • Nehemiah instructed that gates not be opened until the sun was hot (v.3).
   • This was wisdom. Protection required discipline. He did not want the enemies to enter freely
2. He Restores Our Identity (Neh. 7:5-7)
   • When God remembers His people, He restores who they truly are.
   • After the wall was rebuilt, God put into Nehemiah’s heart to gather the people and He found the genealogical records. Why? Because identity matters.
   • They are identified by name showing that God values and validates People
   • It means the Lord does not just recognize individuals, he also recognises and appreciates Family history.
   • A genealogy is the art or writing that reckons births and family, and observes descents and generations. In Hebrew it is called “the book of the generations;”
   • We are heirs of all the yesterdays. An unpayable debt owed to the past. The idea of the family is unity; the history of the family suggests continuance. “No separation can ever break that fellowship of common love which exists in a home
   • In explaining Genealogy, and emphasis is made of connection of fore parents and descendants revealing that God values Families
   • This list is similar to the one in Ezra 2. It means these people are recorded twice in the Scriptures
   • The Hebrew mindset understood that genealogy was not just family history but it was covenant identity.
3. He Remembers His Covenant (Exo. 2:24) 
   • The Bible says" And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Exodus 2:24, KJV).
     • When God remembers you, He reconnects you to your calling. Like a tree that appears dry but still has living roots, Israel looked broken but their roots were alive. Prophetically, they called it the stump of Jesse.
     • Some believers forget who they are in Christ. But when God restores us, He reminds us:
     • We are chosen (1 Peter 2:9). We are redeemed. We belong to Him.
     • God Restores Our Covenant Position. God Restores Our Testimony.  Each name recorded mattered to God. He writes down the names the world forgets.
     • Many of these people were unknown outside this chapter. But God recorded them.
     • Your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).
     • God Restores Our Spiritual Roots. Nehemiah found “a register of the genealogy.” These names connected the present generation with the past promises.
     • God had made promises to Abraham (Genesis 12). Based on the promises He also preserved a remnant through exile.
4. He Remembers Us When in Troubles
   • The Returnees where not at their best. They had returned but this is not their moment of triumph
   • No matter the trouble, God remembers us. The Scriptures declares that  “It is He who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:23, ESV).
   • Know that this is close to 90-100 Years since they were given freedom to go back, yet the Land was not populated as much. The estimate of the People that returned was about 2-6% of those taken to exile. They experienced pain and difficulties. Actually, it seems many did not want to return to the land that was economically bankrupt! Yet, we must remember that God Remembers the Suffering: "God remembers those who suffer; he does not forget their cry" (Psalm 9:12, GNT).
   • The Weak he remembers! God Remembers the Frail. The scriptures states that "For he knows our frame; God remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). 
5. He Rewards our Faithfulness (7:66-73)
   • When they returned, records show that People gave generously to the Work of God
   • The people gave willingly for the work of God. We see their Faithfulness Is Recorded
   • The numbers are precise. God records details. God counts what we give.
   • All offerings were counted. Even animals, servants, and offerings were counted.
   • Nothing you do for God is unnoticed. God Remembers Faithfulness: 
     • "For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him" (Hebrews 6:10, NLT).
   • The leaders were challenged to give first. Spiritual leadership begins with sacrifice.”
   • David said, “I will not offer to the Lord that which doth cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24).
   • One major way he rewarded their faithfulness was the he Settled in Their Cities

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