Shepherd's Corner (December 3rd, 2025)

Shepherd's Corner (12-03-25)Brian Lee

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True Faith, True Repentance

(Based on Nehemiah 9)

“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.”— Nehemiah 9:1–2

Nehemiah 9 is one of the most profound portraits of repentance in all of Scripture. Just two days after the joy-filled Feast of Booths, the people gather again. However, this time, their joy deepens into humility. The Word of God, which awakened celebration in chapter 8, now awakens confession of sins in chapter 9. I believe true revival always moves this way. It starts with hearing the Word (cognition), then with trembling (conviction), and finally with changed lives (commitment). Another way of looking at it is to see true revival starting with hungering for the Word, leading to repentance, which in turn leads to changed lives.

The Levites lead the people through a sweeping retelling of redemptive history—creation, Abraham, the exodus, Sinai, the wilderness, the conquest. It's not brief at all. However, as Scripture unfolds before them, the people begin to see with painful clarity. God has always been faithful, and yet we have always wandered.

Yet their confession is not despair. It is hope. The hope of God frames the entire chapter:

“You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (v. 17).

God's compassion shapes their repentance.

C.S. Lewis captures this depth of repentance in Mere Christianity:

“[Repentance] means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.”

That is what is happening in Nehemiah 9. The people are unlearning their illusions of innocence and self-reliance. They are allowing the Word to dismantle their pride. They are dying to their false selves so they may live again as God’s covenant people.

This is true repentance—not self-punishment, but Spirit-driven honesty. Not guilt-tripping, but returning. Not fear, but faith. By the Grace of God, we confess not to earn God’s mercy but because His mercy has already taken hold of us. Repentance is not what we bring to God. It is a fruit that the Spirit of God produces in us as He brings us "home."

As we live this week, may Nehemiah 9 shape our prayers, soften our hearts, and deepen our joy. May our Heavenly Father, who welcomed Israel’s confession, welcome ours with the same steadfast love.

In His Grace Alone,

Pastor Brian Lee