Nehemiah 13

For Nehemiah, this must have been a shocking end to his story. He had devoted his life to overseeing the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls and ushering in a new era of spiritual revival for the Israelites. The dramatic rebuilding of the wall—which had survived numerous attacks and intended detours by political enemies—had been topped off by a spiritual celebration in the temple, culminating in a signed covenant made by the people.

In particular, they promised three things: Not to intermarry with the heathen people around them; not to buy or sell on the Sabbath; and to care for the temple by providing tithes and offerings for the Levites. Imagine Nehemiah’s surprise, then, when he showed up about ten years later and found that the Israelites had: Intermarried with the heathen people around them; started buying and selling on the Sabbath; and neglected to provide for the temple, causing the Levites to abandon their duties and return home to their fields.

Nehemiah was surprised by these turn of events, but God was not. I find that so interesting. When the people made their signed covenant with God, promising to obey all the things He had asked them to do, He knew they weren’t going to follow through. He knew that ten years down the road, they would be back to their old ways. He knew they would break their covenant.

This is why I believe that God wants us to surrender. What does that mean? I think He wants us to forget about trying to behave and humbly admit to Him that we don’t have the first clue about how to change our evil hearts. You see, the bad behavior is just a symptom of the disease. Sin is the problem, and it is not cured by controlling behavior. (Look no further than the Pharisees for proof of that!)

God wants to heal us of our sin problem, but we are so often preoccupied with our behavior problem that we totally ignore God and what He wants to do in our lives. Because while it’s true that controlling our outward behavior can save us from a lot of unsavory consequences in life, it doesn’t address our internal sin problem.

Consider this from Jesus: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt 5:27-28)

Wow! Here, Jesus takes something that has been considered an external behavior problem and identified its root in the heart. Adultery begins on the inside, where we can’t see it. Thus, we are less concerned with regulating it.

However, God wants to attack sin at its root. And as long as we are preoccupied with just getting our behavior right, we will likely keep God at arm’s length when it comes to the real problem of sin in our lives. That’s why God wants us to surrender. That’s why He wants us to stop trying to fix ourselves and instead look to Him and trust Him to fix us. He knows how to do it, but He can’t do it without our cooperation.