"Here We Go Again"

I've been reading Nehemiah. Not sure why.
God knows.

Nehemiah 8:10b "Do not grieve, for the
joy of the LORD is your strength."


The first 37 verses of Chapter 9
is an account of the history of the Israelite
people, the covenant God made with
Abraham, and the people's history of
wandering away from God and His
compassion on them as they repented.

Time and time again, the Israelites would
see God do amazing things, and promptly
turn from Him. And time and time again,
God in his great mercy would hear their
cries of forgiveness, and bless them again.

WHY?

I ask again, WHY!!!?

And then I look in the mirror and realize,
"that's me!"

We know that the law is spiritual;
but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do. For what
I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do,
I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it,
but it is sin living in me. I know that
nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire
to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do;
no, the evil I do not want to do --
this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I
do not want to do, it is no longer I who
do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:14-20 (NIV)

My selfishness... my lust of self...
my inclination to do what pleases me...
my sin.

Now, I guess I've got a built in excuse.
It's not really my fault. Sin keeps
me doing what I don't want to do.

And yet:
For we know that since Christ
was raised from the dead,
he cannot die again; death no
longer has mastery over him.
The death he died, he died to
sin once for all; but the life he lives,
he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves
dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your
mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Romans 6:9-12 (NIV)

No excuses. Jesus conquered my sin.
And I am no longer a slave to it.
I now have the power of God to overcome it.
And now this:
Nehemiah 8:10b "Do not grieve, for the
joy of the LORD is your strength."
means even more to me!