Ezra 9:1-15

It is a very sad and maddening reality when God’s people repeat the same sinful practices over and over again.  The people had just returned from exile in order to build the temple and restore the city.  They had been sent into exile because of their idolatry and rebellion.  Now, after seventy years of punishment they come back to the land and begin down the same path of rebellion that got them sent into exile in the first place.  We look at this and have a hard time believing that the people could be this blind and hard hearted and yet we often do the very same thing.  How many times to we repeat the same sinful behavior over and over again?  How often do we vow that we will abandon an ungodly attitude and then find ourselves thinking and acting the same way all over again?  Ezra gives us a good example of how we should respond to repeated sin.

EZRA IS APPALLED BY THE PEOPLE’S SIN: When Ezra is informed that the people who had returned from exile, even the Levites and the priests, were intermarrying with the sons and daughters of the pagan nations that surrounded them; he immediately tears his clothing and falls before the Lord.  Ezra did not excuse the sin by saying that they must not have known better.  He did not diminish the sin by saying that it was only natural for them to do this.  Instead He is appalled by the sins of his people and the other leaders.  I fear that sin has become so common in our society and our churches today that we no longer are appalled by it; rather we have come to except it and become tolerant of it in our midst.  If we could only have a glimpse of sin from the perspective of God I think our attitudes and actions concerning sin would be a lot more like Ezra’s.  We need to learn to be appalled by sin and not simply accept it as some necessary evil that we learn to live with.

EZRA APPEALS TO GOD FOR THE PEOPLE’S SIN: Ezra found himself at a loss as to what to do about his situation, so he does the only logical thing to do when we are lost; he cries out to God.  Ezra expresses to God that he knows that the people have rebelled against the Word of God and that this was nothing less than following the rebellious footsteps to their fathers.  He appeals to the Lord on behalf of the people, not for God to excuse or ignore the sin, but to know what the Lord would have them to do now.  Ezra confesses the sin and guilt of the people and tells the Lord that He would be more than justified in eliminating the people or sending them back into exile.  He is simply throwing himself down before the Lord in order to know how to handle this in a way that will please the Lord.  We must never make light of our sin or try to transfer the blame of our sin onto others.  God wants us to take sin seriously and fall before Him in repentance.