And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
– Ezekiel 9:4
What a picture of God saying, “Mark the people”, listen to this language, “who sigh and groan over all the abominations, the sins that are being committed in Israel”. So it’s not just people who abstain from those abominations. Who abstain from sin and immorality and idolatry. But whose hearts break over it. Who hate sin and idolatry and immorality not just in their own lives, but in the world around them. And they sigh and they groan over it.
Ezekiel 9:4 pictures the people God sets apart by their sorrow for sin.
Is this true of you? Is this true of me? Yes. Yes. That we would sigh and groan over our own propensity to sin, that we would hate sin in our own lives. That we would run from it. So to start there, that we sigh and groan over any inkling towards sin in our own hearts. And then that we would also sigh and groan that we would hate and be broken over sin that we see around us, that it would cause us to weep and mourn. Just the pictures of immorality and idolatry of sin and its effects around us.
Oh God, we pray that you would make us this kind of people who hate sin like you hate sin in our lives. God, we pray for a healthy, holy hatred and disgust for sin in our lives. Or a sighing and a groaning that just longs to be free from all sin in us. God, we pray for that in our own lives. Help us to hate the sin that we’re prone toward and run from it by your power, by your Spirit in us.
Ezekiel 9:4 teaches us to grieve over sin, not grow numb to it.
And then, oh God, we pray that you would help us to weep over, to groan over sin around us in the world, sin that we see in this fallen world around us, that we would hate it. That we would cry out for your mercy upon the people around us, for your grace, to free them from sin. And then God, for the boldness to proclaim your gospel, to call people humbly, to repent of sin, to believe in the gospel. God help us to help others turn from sin.
God, help us not to leave others in their sin. Help us to graciously, mercifully, humbly call them to trust in you. Call brothers and sisters in Christ away from sin and call those who are not in Christ to Jesus, to the one who’s paid the price for their sin, to free them from the destructive effects of sin, ultimately death in their lives.
God, help us to be bold with the gospel. And help us hate, mourn, grieve over sin in our lives and around us. And God, we pray for the spread of your salvation from sin among all the peoples of the world.
Prayer for the Rambang People
God, we groan when we think about 165,000 Rambang men, women, and children in Indonesia who don’t know you. Rambang people who are caught in their sin and don’t know the salvation you bring from sin.
Lord help us to mourn and groan over unreached people who are lost in sin. Those who have never even heard the good news of your grace and your mercy in Jesus. God, we pray for your salvation to spread among all the nations, including the Rambang people of Indonesia. God, we pray all this in light of your Word in Ezekiel 9:4. Make us the kind of people who are marked by sighing and groaning over sin in us and around us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
