Nehemiah: Notice me—Eternal One, God of heaven, great and awesome God. You are the keeper of the covenant and loyally love those who love You and follow Your commands.

And may I also ask you for a letter to the warden of your forests, Asaph; he will supply timber to me so that I can build gates into the fortress around the temple mount, gates and watchtowers in the walls around the city, and a house for myself. My True God had heard my prayers and rested His hand of favor and love upon me. The king gave me everything I asked for!

But our ancestors resisted following You. They were arrogant. They were proud. They refused to obey Your commands, plugging their ears. Knowing what You had done for them in the past, They willfully forgot it in the present. Stubborn. Rebellious. Instead of following You, They appointed their own leader to take them back to the land of their oppression—to Egypt! But You are not like us, God. You are filled with love, compassion, and forgiveness. You endure much with your anger and display Your loyal love; You did not abandon them,

Our True God—You who are great, majestic, and awesome, You who always keep Your covenant of loyal love— do not overlook the trouble we are facing here today. This trouble confronts us all: our kings and our princes, our priests and our prophets, our ancestors and all of Your people— From the time of the Assyrian kings until today.

I ordered the Levites to go through the purifying rituals and then to come back and guard the gates so that the Sabbath would be kept holy. Nehemiah: O God—my God—remember my actions. Because of Your great love, show me mercy.

This is the very thing that caused King Solomon’s downfall. In all the world, there was no king like him. God loved him dearly and made him king over all Israel. Yet these foreign wives led Solomon into sin.