A fear of God and their actions

 

Ezra 10:9-17

 

March 26, 2021

 

 

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.   And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel.   Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”   Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said.   But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.   Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them, the elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.”   Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month, they sat down to examine the matter;  and by the first day of the first month, they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

 

When a person or a nation goes against the commands of our Lord, it is going to have a cost, but it is not just to the person but to those that love them.  When the leader of a nation, in our case those who were appointed to serve by the people, is allowed to break the Laws and commandments of our God, the nation comes under God's judgment, and that is where the USA finds itself.  And it is going to cost us the very things we value, the freedoms we have to believe were given to all people to live in freedom.  But we are sinful people.  Our hearts have turned from the God of heaven.  If we fear God, as the Jewish people, and seek forgiveness, and humble ourselves we might find mercy?  The government that so many are looking for cannot solve the high price of oil and natural gas, yet we have greater reserves than anyone in the world.   Anyone that puts trust in leadership we have in many states and at the nation's capital are poor blind ignorant people, who foolishly put hope in a wicked evil government, whose leadership is Godless.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice