Nehemiah 1:7 “We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.”

Nehemiah not only confesses the sin of the nation of Israel, he includes himself as one of the guilty. We remember that Nehemiah had never been to Israel since he was born in captivity n Babylon. He may have been tempted to think that none of this captivity is his fault but he is very careful to identify with his people to confess and repent. Of course there is no use in trying to hide our sins from God and Nehemiah is very open about them. There is a good illustration about our sins finding us out. A couple of Boeing employees decided to steal a life raft from one of the airlines in the factory in Washington. They were successful in getting it out of the plant and home but they failed to take into account one important fact. The rafts on airlines all come with an emergency locator that is automatically activated when the raft is inflated. When they took the raft out for a float on the Stilliguamish River, in northwest Washington, state were quite surprised by a coast guard helicopter homing in on the emergency locator that was activated the moment they inflated the raft. “They are no longer Boeing employees,” a company spokesperson told the press. It is even more futile to try to hide your sin from God. It is of course impossible since He sees them all …  But still loves us if we confess and repent. “LORD, we confess our sins and turn from them back to You this day, in Jesus’ name.”