Today’s Devotional: “A Brief Moment of Grace”

Today, more than ever, we need a revival, but what that entails is repentance on our part, which means turning from the ways that displease the Lord.

One such area is how the church, and we as believers, have intermarried with the concepts and philosophies of the world.  This is what happened in the time of Ezra.

For 70 years, the Jews were in Babylonian captivity because they had disobeyed God’s word. But now, in God’s grace and mercy, He brought them back to the land of promise to build God’s holy temple.

What they did, however, was disobey God’s word and take wives from the nations around them. And the priests, those who should have known better, failed to follow God’s law and to separate themselves from the people groups who now inhabited the area.

Completely astonished by the people’s disobedience, Ezra humbled himself by praying and fasting.

He prayed, “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” (Ezra 9:6)

Afterward, Ezra makes an incredible observation.

“But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary.” (Ezra 9:8a)

God’s grace enabled them to return to His ways and spared them from the destruction their sins deserved.

Basically, the people were spitting on God’s grace when He reestablished them in the Promised Land by doing what had gotten them kicked out in the first place, namely, disobedience.

As amazed as we are by their behavior, we’re no different. God has been gracious to us, but both the church and we, as believers, have intermarried with the world and its ways and methods.

We need to repent and turn back to God, and perhaps God will grant us that brief moment of grace once again.