Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Ezra 9-10, 2 Timothy 4
In Ezra 9 the writer (Ezra) is devastated that the people of Israel keep on disobeying God by not separating themselves from other nations who do not worship and honour God. Ezra is devastated because the Israelites were severely punished and lost everything for years and years of sinning against God. They were taken out of the promised land and made slaves. Finally God gave them another chance and they were blowing this one too!
To make matters worse, it was the leaders of the people of Israel who were leading in this sin. In Ezra's devastated state he says in 9:10
“But now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commands"
It was embarrassing for Ezra and I'm sure he felt exhausted and considered giving up. But the Israelites who were guilty of this sin responded by weeping bitterly and truly wanted forgiveness.
How many times is God frustrated with us at our repeated sins? We need to also be truly ashamed for our sins and be more desperate for forgiveness, which only God can give through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I don't think I take my sin seriously enough at times, I pray that I realize that it is serious and needs to be cleaned up.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 1 Chronicles 1-3; Jude
3 comments:
I've been appreciating our pastor's sermons on this topic for the past few weeks. We need to come to a place where it is not the wrath of God that shocks us, but rather the grace of God. We need to realize how sinful we are, and how holy God is, and how underserving we are of His grace.
One thing that stood out for me in our NT passage was Paul's reliance on God when all his friends failed him. We need to remember that our ultimate trust is in God. Yes, friends and family are often supportive and encouraging, but people are not perfect and everyone, no matter how good their intentions or how much they love us, will, at some point, let us down. But God never will.
2 Timothy 4:2 says, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."
For me, the what stood out in this verse was the word patience. Patience is a difficult thing to learn and it is also difficult to apply to our lives.
2 Timothy 4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
The intermarriage that devastated Ezra is also one I think of as my kids approach dating (and marriage) ages. Just as the Israelites should not have intermarried, neither should Christians with unbelievers. It will, no doubt, cause believers to "turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." May we pray for our children's future spouses that they are following God.
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