Never Ending Praise The Lord

Note: Next week, I will return to my occult/divination practices devotion. Happy New Year! I am praying many blessings to those reading this.

Ezra 10:2 NIV “…We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.”

 By now, you may be thinking ‘This girl literally only reads the old testament.” I promise it’s relatable! I have to tell you why this verse jumped out at me…

There I sat at the desk one morning, reading over that days passage from my bible study class. These Israelites were exiled to Assyria and Babylon and after a long period, God brought them back to the land he’d given them and restored them. It’s a beautiful story, except…. Can you believe the audacity of these guys? They disregarded everything that had happened in the past and started intermarrying with foreigners who practiced idolatry, divination, witch craft…. Huh. Need a devotion about that? I know a girl…

Kidding aside, Ezra heard these things and immediately tore his robe in grief. Appalled, he even pulled hair from his head and beard. [Ezra 9:3]  That night, he finally went to God in confession and sorrow. He didn’t just go to God pointing fingers at the community of people doing wrong- he took blame upon himself, acknowledged how gracious and good the Lord had been to them, and prayed about how to handle the situation. The Israelites gathered around him and realizing their grave sin, they too wept.

Then, something incredible happened. Shekaniah- not a leader or priest, just a member of the community- reminded the people that while they had sinned greatly, there was still hope for them.

Ding! The bell in my head rang! I sat for a while thinking, how many times have I allowed my shame over a sin to keep me from growing and changing to become the woman God intended me to be? That’s not living in the security of God’s goodness, faithfulness or the fact that he died to cover that sin.

I’m not saying to take sin lightly. We went over this; sin is the desire, thought, or action that doesn’t conform to God’s will, and it separates us from him. When we recognize the gravity of sin and it’s painful consequences, we have a responsibility to acknowledge, confess, and take action to turn back to God. However, there are times when  we acknowledge the sin and then we don’t ever get past it.

We may say things like, “How could God ever love someone like me?” or maybe you feel like you’ve done so many things wrong that it replays like a movie in your mind- over and over again.

Listen, stop hitting that rewind button! Hit the fast forward button because there is HOPE. His name is Jesus and he covered that sin at the cross. Your past can no longer condemn you. [Romans 8:1- see? I know some new testament stuff!] You are forgiven and cleansed. [1 John 1:9] You’re a new creation. [2 corinthians 5:17] Shame has nothing to hold on to because God cast our sins into the depth of the sea. [Micah 7:19]  Don’t let the enemy hand it back, Jesus already crushed it!