How to Hit the Reset Button with God

Every one of us knows what it feels like to get stuck spiritually. Maybe you’re tired, discouraged, distracted, or even ashamed. Maybe you’ve drifted farther than you meant to, or you’ve simply gotten numb. Life happens, and before you realize it, your heart is out of rhythm with God.

When that happens, we need what Israel needed in Nehemiah 9–10: a reset.

These chapters describe one of the most powerful renewal moments in the entire Old Testament. The walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt. The people have celebrated the Feast of Booths with joy. And then—right when you would expect a spiritual high to carry them forward—they shift into something much deeper: repentance.

What Israel does in these chapters gives us a roadmap for how God brings renewal to His people. It always starts in the same place: with repentance.

1. Renewal begins with preparing your heart

Before the people ever prayed, confessed, or worshiped, they first humbled themselves. They fasted. They put on sackcloth. They rubbed dirt on their heads. These were outward signs of an inward reality—they knew they didn’t deserve to stand before a holy God.

Most of us don’t prepare our hearts like that. We rush into God’s presence hurried, distracted, and half-awake. Then we wonder why we don’t hear from Him.

Sometimes the first step toward renewal is as simple as praying, “Lord, please speak to me through Your Word.” Humility cracks open the door. Hunger pushes it wide.

2. Renewal requires honesty about your sin

Nehemiah 9 says the Israelites “stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” They didn’t minimize. They didn’t delay. They didn’t blame.

They owned it.

And they did so after three hours of reading God’s Word.

That’s important. God’s Word is what revealed their sin in the first place. Before they confessed anything, they let Scripture read them. Often our hearts stay unchanged because we stay unexposed. We ask God to “fix” us while avoiding the very light that reveals what needs to be fixed.

If you want a reset, let the Word of God confront you. Let it name the things you’ve been ignoring. Let it wound you in order to heal you.

3. Renewal grows by remembering who God is

The heart of Nehemiah 9 is a long, breathtaking prayer that rehearses Israel’s entire story:

• God the Creator
• God of Abraham
• God who delivered them from Egypt
• God who provided manna and water
• God who was patient when they rebelled
• God who disciplined them and restored them

Israel confessed their sin in the context of God’s character. That’s what real repentance looks like. It’s not despair. It’s not self-hatred. It’s not wallowing.

It’s turning back to a God who has never stopped being faithful.

The more clearly you remember who God is, the more freely you will return to Him.

4. Renewal ends with real-life commitment

In chapter 10, Israel doesn’t just say they’re going to change—they put their commitment in writing. They sign a covenant. They entrust their lives again to God’s law, God’s ways, God’s priorities.

They promise to obey the Word, honor the Sabbath, marry believers, forgive debts, give generously, and most importantly, never neglect the house of God.

In other words: repentance produced obedience.

A reset with God is always meant to lead to real-life change. Not perfection. Not performance. But a reoriented heart—one that places God back at the center.

Do you need a reset?

If you’re stuck, cold, drifting, or spiritually tired, take heart. Israel’s story in Nehemiah 9–10 reminds us that God welcomes humble, repentant people. We know that, because those are exactly the kind of people Jesus came to save (Mark 2:17). Renewal isn’t for the strong—it’s for the desperate. It’s for the hungry. It’s for those who whisper, “Lord, please speak to me through Your Word,” and mean it.

If you need a reset, God is ready.

Draw near to Him—and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).