RENEW

After decades in exile, Israel returns, not just to their land, but to the wreckage of what once was. The temple is in ruins. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down. The people’s identity is fractured. But God is not finished. Ezra and Nehemiah is a story of return, restoration, and renewal. It should have been the end, but it’s actually a new beginning.

This book unfolds in the rubble. God stirs the hearts of leaders, awakens a longing for His Word, and rebuilds both the city and His people. But the work is hard. There’s external opposition, internal compromise, spiritual drift, and generational disappointment. And yet, grace keeps building. God’s promises keep moving forward.

Ezra and Nehemiah are stories of re-formation. They raise a hauntingly relevant question for us today: Will we let God rebuild not just what’s around us, but what’s within us?

Like Israel, we often find ourselves standing in the ruins of what once was: dreams, institutions, relationships, faith. But the God who led His people home is the same God who calls us to rebuild today.

Over these coming weeks, as we read together through The Daily, engage in discussion in our Communities, and gather under the teaching of God’s Word, we pray that we would be a people shaped by repentance, rooted in Scripture, courageous in witness, and resilient in faith. May we take up our tools and trust the One who rebuilds all things.

- The Downtown Hope Theology Team