Nehemiah 9:30
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
The verse belongs to the gathering of the people in Jerusalem after the wall had been rebuilt, while much of the city still lay in ruins, at the Feast of Trumpets gathering where Ezra and the Levites stood before the people and led them in worship. It is part of the account in which Ezra and Nehemiah humbled themselves before God, confessing their own sins and the sins of their people and seeking pardon as if they themselves were guilty. It belongs to the recounting of God's goodness set against the people's ingratitude, in which their punishment is acknowledged as just and the people respond by pledging to obey God's law.
It means that God bore with Israel for many years and warned them by His Spirit speaking in the prophets, but they would not listen, so He gave them into the power of the peoples of the lands. His testimony by the Spirit was against their sins, and their turning from Him separated them from Him. He permitted them to come under the control of heathen nations and into captivity, not without cause, demonstrating that He would not serve with their sins.
Yet in His great mercy He did not utterly destroy them or forsake them. He did not work through those who refused to serve Him with singleness of purpose and corrupted their ways before Him, but worked through Nehemiah as a faithful man who honored Him and restored heaven-born principles. The same pattern applies to Seventh-day Adventists: God has shown them great favor and precious truths, yet they have not always honored Him or valued His gifts, while He has still not wholly forsaken them and has provided means to carry His work to the world.