Do we, as God’s people, mourn over sin? Or is sin too comfortable for us: is it an understandable failing on our part or a most horrific offense in the sight of God? The people’s sin reduced Ezra to a disheveled beggar with torn robes and hair, fasting until evening. That is, I think, how sin should affect us.

I recently read Ezra 9 in my morning devotions and was struck by the character of Ezra’s sorrow over the sins of God’s people. His grief was intense; it was profound. His sorrow over the sins of God’s people had tangible evidences to it and true effects on God’s people. There are lessons here for us to learn–lessons that will help us understand the nature of sin, the nature of repentance and confession, and the nature of God’s mercy and grace. Consider the following:

1. Ezra’s grief was in reaction to sin:“The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands with their abominations…” (Ez. 9:1). They had inter-married with the pagan nations. This was a direct contravention of God’s earlier commands. I wonder what are the comparable sins of today’s church: certainly, marrying unbelievers would feature, but we can identify others? A failure to love the worship of God and the assembling of God’s people; a disregard of the authority of the church and of the family; gossip, slander and wicked speech; a love of theology not of people. My point is this: is the church at large any better than the state of Israel in Ezra’s day. Our sins are as great as theirs in many ways, but do we see it?

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