Here we are in Nehemiah 7 and 8. God’s people had been confronted daily for hundreds of years with great hardships and sufferings. Finally, and by God's mercy alone, the walls around Jerusalem were completed and the city was secure. God’s people were protected from the enemies that surrounded them. What is the first thing that Nehemiah leads them to do? He leads them to do what God had created them to do, worship Him together (Neh. 7:1-3, 8:1-12). In the midst of hundreds of years of physical attacks on them, Nehemiah led God’s people to give back to God the honor and glory that He deserved. You may think, if Israel had been exiled and Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed why honor the God who let this happen? Well, in short, God’s people broke the covenant with God (Deut. 7). God had promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The covenant said that if God’s people welcomed the gods of other nations “the anger of the Lord would be kindled and He would destroy them, His own people” (Deut. 7:3-4). So, what did God do? Destroy them? No! He poured out His mercy on His people even in their disobedience. You see, God’s mercy is tied to His covenant. God’s mercy is a product of His sovereignty. God can give mercy to anyone He chooses and Nehemiah knew that it was only by God’s mercy that God’s people were alive and together under the covenant promises of God and so they worshipped the God of mercy in their hardships.