The book of Nehemiah opens by talking about a specific time and a particular place and a concrete political situation in the history of the people of God, namely 458BC in the city of Susa under the Persian Empire. That reminds us that the presence and action of God is not limited to some vague arena known as the “spiritual.” Rather, we find God in the circumstances of our daily life. The spiritual is found in human affairs and human affairs open us up to the spiritual. For Nehemiah that meant restoring religious practice among the returning exiles in the promised land. In our lives we are called to find what God is asking of us in the providence of our everyday lives. The way we use our finances, the decisions that we make about voting, our interactions with our neighbors, our treatment of those who are hurting, our dealings with family members, what we eat and drink must be considered in a spiritual light, as part of the plan that God has for us. Since God is the creator of all that is, all that is should be understood as having divine significance.
