The Prayer of Ezra

My dear friend, Wilson Tan, finally becomes a father. he named his son, "Ezra". A powerful and godly person in the OT. Congrats to you =)

"Ezra" reminds me of a sermon i preached in the church and i would like to share with you:

The Scripture tells us that Ezra was a priest and he was a learned man in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the Lord for Israel (Ezra 7:11) He proclaimed praying and fasting just before going to Jerusalem (Ezra 8). Once, they reached Jerusalem and completed their given tasks and then sacrificed burnt offerings to God, the leaders came to Ezra with bad news. By now, the temple had already rebuilt but there was a problem. The problem was that people are not going to the temple to worship God (Ezra 9).The people of Israel have not separated themselves from the neighbouring people. He was told that the leaders including priests and Levites had broken a command of God by intermarrying with women from the neighbouring people. (9:1-2)(read) As a result, the verse says that they have mingled the holy race with the people around them. There is a decline in true religion because of intermarriage, the people of Israel have adopt their wife/husbands’ religion. Their hearts have turned cold and they have compromised their faith. They became indifferent towards worship of the True and Living God.

What did Ezra do after hearing this? Look at Ezra 9:3.That was really a usual behaviour that Ezra had demonstrated. Why behave like that? Ezra’s heart was immediately gripped by a deep concern for the people. Scripture actually says that he was utterly shocked, and horrified at the terrible sins of the people. This was indicated by his tearing his clothing and pulling his hair and beard. It was the custom of that day to express one’s grief in this way. Ezra’s heart was filled with sorrow, sadness, and depressed. Apparently Ezra had gone to the temple to express his grief and to seek the LORD. Naturally, the worshippers wanted to know what was troubling him so deeply. Soon all the faithful believers, those who feared God and trembled at His Word, joined Ezra in mourning over the sins of the people. In utter dismay, Ezra sat there in the temple until the evening sacrifice.

When it was time for the evening sacrifice, Ezra offered up his prayer of confession (9:5-15). He rose from where he had been sitting, fell to his knees, then lifted up his hands to the LORD in prayer and intercession for the people. What did he prayed about? Firstly, he recognize how far Israel had fallen by confessing their sins (2) he recognize God’s goodness and grace towards Israel (3) he recognize the need for repentant.
J. C. Ryle said, “Christ is never fully valued, until sin is clearly seen” Thus our first reaction to sin must be to see it clearly from Scriptures. Then, realizing that it put our Savior on the cross, we should mourn over it. Finally, we should confess it without excuse to the God of mercy, appropriating His cleansing for our consciences, that we might be renewed to serve Him in purity.

As we grow in godliness, like Ezra, we will react more strongly to our own sins and to the sins of God’s people. We will dwell more consistently at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ, where God’s mercy flows to repentant sinners.
So when I confess my sins to God, I will
- Acknowledge the severity of my sins so that I will not take my sins lightly.
I will
- Remember God’s grace and goodness towards me so that I will be honestly ashamed that I have sinned against my Gracious God.
I will
- Express my repentance so that I will resolved to turn from my sinful ways.

I trust that this is simple enough for us to remember how we can confess our sins and also simple enough for those of us who are parents to explain to children how they can confess their sins.