Monday, May 2, 2022

Ezra 9 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Ezra 9:5,6

Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God and prayed: "I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

Luke 18:13- "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

To be humbly broken before the Lord is a beautiful thing. In our society, we equate humility, brokenness, and repentance with weakness – but not in God's Kingdom. In God's Kingdom, to be broken before Him with a heart of humble repentance takes strength and brings real power. Power not of this world but of the One who created it.

I see in both these verses men who are fed up with sin and desperate for something else. They don't come to the LORD trying to explain away their actions or justify why they did what they did but rather bring their brokenness to the Healer. Will we? Jesus Christ is our Mediator, and He is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for His people and for those who call on His name.

Think about that for a moment. He isn't up there urging God to punish or reject you, but He is going to bat for us! Though we deserve destruction, He is up there interceding for our deliverance! To receive this forgiveness and pardon, He doesn't require us to jump through a bunch of hoops, win a bunch of converts, or pay a bunch of tithes first. He simply requires us to come humbly and broken to the foot of the cross, to lay our lives down at His feet in full surrender, with a simple yet beautiful act of true repentance. He is waiting; are we willing?

Luke 18:14- "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

This is the Lord's response to the tax collector who humbled himself. Beautiful, isn't it?

God bless! I love you all, but His love is why we live! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

 

 

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