“Oh my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.” Ezra 9:6,7 Have you felt as Ezra, where your have seen the deliverance of the Lord only to find yourself dwelling in sin shortly there after? God brought a remnant of Israel out of captivity back to Jerusalem and the temple was rebuilt. In the midst of God’s mighty deliverance the people intermarry with the people of the land without heeding God’s command not to dwell with them. The sins that were committed by their forefathers are again committed. How did Ezra feel to be a leader of these people who are living in sin? Where is hope to be found to overcome the inherent sin in our lives? When we can see God’s mighty hand one moment only to run after the desires of our flesh the next second what shall we do?
Ezra falls to his knees as he clings to the grace that God extended in Ezra 9:5-15. The people were wrong and had sinned before God. They needed to change their ways and turn wholeheartedly to God. Ezra and the leaders of Israel expressed the urgency to the people that they were sinning before God by intermarrying with the people of the land. By the grace of God the people of Israel acknowledged their sin openly before God and set their hearts towards following His commands. When we are faced with sin in our lives what are we called to do? Will we acknowledge our sinfulness to God? Will we set our hearts towards God? We need to cling to the grace of God extended to us through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and holdfast to God as we set our hearts towards Him and not the ways of the surrounding world.
