Week 21 A Parable from Nehemiah 9:5-38
Once there was a Great Benefactor who decided to give a lot of benefits to a bunch of people.
The benefits were top-quality, and the benefit-ees were so enchanted by them that they gradually forgot about the Benefactor.
Which was a bit strange because the Benefactor and the benefits were pretty clearly a package-deal. But the stand-alone benefits were so terrific that they started looking like independent consumables. And even though the benefits were maximally beneficial in combination with the Benefactor they seemed to retain a lot of value even when the Benefactor was subtracted.
In reality benefits-minus-Benefactor weren’t of much value and they had a short shelf-life. But things played out for awhile because the Benefactor was super-patient. He understood the limitations of the benefit-ees – their foibles, quirks, eccentricities, their dunderheaded calculus. So he took a pretty kind, long-suffering, gracious, charitable, accommodating approach to them. Not indulgence, but a compassionate sympathy that extended over a long time.
The benefit-ees had to work very hard to prove beyond any doubt that they only wanted the depreciating benefits.
And eventually they were able to convince the Great Benefactor they really had no interest in him at all.
Note: Nehemiah nine is a history summary and a public prayer, and it makes it clear over-and-over that the Benefactor is: a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and full of unfailing love and mercy (Nehemiah 9:17, NLT version; along with 9:19, 20, 27, 28, 30 & 31).