9:6-38 - At the heart of
Ezra’s prayer, there is a tremendous description of God: ‘You are a God
ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love’ (17). This is ‘our God’. ‘Our sins’ are great.
The love of God is even greater. We look at ‘our sins’, and we feel that
everything is hopeless. We look to ‘our God’, and everything changes.
We see Him as the ‘gracious and merciful God’, and we are filled with
hope. Our life need not be controlled by ‘our sins’. It can be changed
by ‘our God’ (31-32,37). Our God ‘delights in steadfast love’. He ‘will
cast all our sins into the depths of the sea’ (Micah 7:18-19).
How do we know that God loves us? - ‘Christ died for our sins’. Bring
your sins to Jesus, and let ‘His blood cleanse you from all sin’ (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 John 1:7).
10:1-39
- God is calling us to commit our lives to Him. At the heart of our
commitment to the Lord, there must be worship: ‘We will not neglect the
House of our God’ (39). ‘Worship God’ (Revelation 19:10).
This is our reason for coming to the Lord’s House. We come to worship
Him. Our worship is to be more than mere words. We worship God when we
bring our offerings to Him. God’s people brought ‘the tithe’ (tenth) to
Him (37). We meet with the Lord when we worship in His House: ‘How
awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and
this is the gate of heaven’. Through our giving - ‘Of all that You give
me I will give You the tenth’ - , let us express our commitment to the
Lord - ‘the Lord will be my God’ (Genesis 28:17,21-22).
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