Have you ever felt this pain? You’ve gotten through a terrible circumstance, and you’re starting to rebuild and things are looking better, but as humans sometimes we have this instinct of wanting to look back and imagine what could have been…

If that thing hadn’t happened, if I hadn’t trusted that person, if I hadn’t made that terrible mistake.. if he or she hadn’t gone out and ruined everything, if I hadn’t lost my job, if I hadn’t gotten sick, if COVID hadn’t hit…

Because we look around and things are definitely better than what they were when we were in crisis mode, but they’re not what they could have been if the crisis hadn’t hit in the first place.

So Ezra and Nehemia’s response in Nehemiah chapter 8 is don’t mourn, rejoice. And the people of Israel actually take them up on it.