Repent

Ezra 9:15 "O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this." NASB

 

Cool things were happening. A pagan king got a vision, shared the vision, people's hearts were stirred, they gave, they prepared, they worked as one man, they stopped, they started again, the temple was finished, the people came to Jerusalem and there was a problem. I hate that. Everything seems to be going so well, everyone seems to be on board and it seems like you can just hear the machine smoothly purring away and here comes a problem. The problem? The leaders, the rulers, the princes, even some of the spiritual leaders did not pay attention. They didn't obey. To be honest, they took God for granted and did not consider His righteousness.

 

Look at the beginning of Ezra's prayer: "O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous...". That is foundational. God is righteous. What God says is right. What God does is right. His word and His commandments are right and true and pure. These people lost sight of God's righteousness and when they did they disobeyed. They intermarried with women from other countries. This was something that God told them not to do. He knew that if they did, they would be divided in their loyalty. They would not seek solely after God. They would have a divided heart because they might want to please God, but only when it did not offend their pagan wife. Compromise entered and with it came sin.

 

Ezra's response? Repentance. Huh? Ezra didn't do this. It wasn't his sin. He did not disobey God. Why would he have to repent? Why would he have to humble himself and tear his clothes and fall on his knees and stretch out his hands and be ashamed and embarrassed? He didn't do this stuff. No. But he was a leader. He took this personally. Who knows, maybe he felt that this was a lack of his leadership that lead to this. As a result, he went to God in confession. He went to God and admitted guilt. He went to God and declared God's righteousness and his and the people's inability to stand before Him.

 

That is so true. God is so righteous, there is no way I can stand before Him. Even if I think I am living a holy life, I'm not. I am so inadequate in my obedience. I am so inadequate in my following. I am constantly drawn away. Repentance should always be on my lips. And if I lead anyone, either my family or a group of people, I should stand before God on their behalf as well.

 

Take this particular problem: Intermarriage. God told Israel not to do it and He tells us not to do it. Why? First, He is God. He can do this. Why would He do it? Because He knows what is best. I love what James MacDonald says. "When God says 'Don't' He means: 'Don't hurt yourself.'" God only loves us. He cares about us. He created us and He knows how everything works and He knows what is best for us. When He says: "Don't" He says it so we don't screw our lives up. When He says not to marry an unbeliever, He says it because He knows that it will only cause division, and compromise and heartache. God really does want our lives to be lived well. After all Jesus said that He came to give us abundant lives. When we step outside what He wants that abundance decreases.

 

So what do we in leadership do when people intermarry? What do we do when people date others who are not believers? Do we warn? Do we teach? Do we pray? Do we repent? Maybe we should.