What’s your usual Sunday morning attitude?
Exodus 20:8 (NIV)
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
It is tempting to think that my week will go better if I use my Sabbath day to catch up on my to-do list. This 4th Commandment, as spelled out in God’s Word, sets the day apart for rest. Hallowed and blessed by God.
No work. With no work-arounds.
Can we follow the directions?
This doll from my childhood . . .
. . . wearing clothes sewn by my aunt,
sitting in a chair crafted by my son,
with the doll quilt Grandma stitched as a child.
Treasures! Made made by people I love.
Father God, I treasure our world because it was made by you.
I love you, Lord. Amen.
In the late 1800’s, Maltbie Davenport Babcock would head out to enjoy the beauty surrounding his upstate New York home. As the story goes, he’d tell his wife he was “going out to see the Father’s world.”
Our hymnbooks include his memorable words of praise:
“This is my Father’s world, why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King—let the heavens ring.
God reigns—let the earth be glad.”
Maltbie had the right idea. This isn’t our world. It is God’s world. Rejoice and be glad.
Genesis 1:27-28 (ESV)
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them.
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”
We build homes and have children. We dig wells and arrange plumbing. We plant the seeds of our favorite produce. We eat our veggies and search out cures for illness. With God’s blessing.
But we are always stewards, never owners. 
Spring, summer, fall and winter—the seasons of our lives. What delights your heart?
Think of the cycles God provides: oxygen, water, sowing and reaping, birth and death, seasons. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, our very lives follow a familiar pattern.
The pattern is never exactly the same, never perfectly predictable. But there is order. In that we find security and comfort. It is a good pattern. A very good pattern.
Nehemiah 1:6-7
Hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you.
Per Nehemiah’s example, what’s wrong with America starts with . . .
. . . me.
I confess the sins I have committed against you, Lord.
God says, “Humble yourselves and pray and seek my face and turn from your wicked ways” (from 2 Chronicles 7:14).
Or what if we don’t?
Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, suggested that the Civil War might have been our “Or what?” for the sin of slavery:
“. . . until all the wealth piled by the bond-men’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn by the sword.“
I’m worried about my generation’s “or what?”
“Turn from your wicked ways.” Ah, that’s the real challenge of 2 Chronicles 7:14.
When it comes to the state of my nation, I want the other fella to turn from his wicked ways. Cause I’m one of the good guys, right?
God: Are you content with the status quo so long as it’s profitable for you?
Me: Do I really have to answer that?
It is so easy to make excuses: Everyone is doing it. I’m not as bad as they are.
God doesn’t set much store by excuses. That’s where the “Humble yourself” comes in.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Nehemiah followed the instructions:
Nehemiah 1:6-7
Hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you.
It worked well for him. We should try it.
Check Lesson 2 in Rebuilding the Walls for more on Nehemiah’s prayer.
