I was reading the following verse as I finished in my morning study through the book of Ezra,
"10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly."
These people had come face to face with a repeat of a heinous offense against God, and this verse shows that when confronted with it, how they responded. In just the previous verse here are their words,
"'Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence.'"
I was deeeply convicted in what I read. I know how many times I have stood before the Lord after I had sinned against Him, and seldom has my response been so laden with the intense grief before a holy God as is demonstrated in these two verses. Max Lucado, most commonly known for his writing about the grace of our Lord, makes the following cutting statement about this same topic, "Sin is not an unfortunate slip or a regrettable act; it is aposture of defiance against a holy God."
Oh Lord, would that I should mourn bitterly over my own sinfulness.
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