As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord, my God, saying, “Oh my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.”
– Ezra 9:3–6
What a scene as Ezra hears news about how God’s people have sinned against God, and he falls on his face, pulls hair from his head and his face. He and others are trembling at God’s Word, and he lays out his hands before God in prayer and fasting and says, “God, I’m ashamed, blushed to lift my face to you because of our iniquities against you.”
Ezra 9:3–6 shows an image of a somber conviction of sin.
What a picture of conviction of sin, confession of sin, and not just in Ezra’s own life, but on behalf of the people of God, and all kinds of other people do join him. All the people who are trembling at the words of the God of Israel when they realize their faithlessness are joining him in this.
And as I read it, I just can’t help but to wonder why is this kind of response to sin not more common among us today in our own lives? Just in our own time alone with the Lord, is there time where you are falling on your face, confessing sin, mourning over sin, weeping over sin in your own life? And in the lives of others, in the lives of the people of God to hate sin so much that we see it in our lives or in others’ lives or in the world, and we just confess our need for God’s grace and God’s mercy.
And then not just alone, but to do this together. Why is this not more common in our churches or whenever we gather together with other brothers and sisters in Christ to confess sin like this with mourning, with weeping, with trembling at God’s Word and how we have not obeyed it? Certainly we don’t have less need to confess sin like this, so what is it that’s missing in our lives and our churches that is keeping us from having moments of confession like this?
Ezra 9:3–6 encourages us to treat our confessions seriously.
So let’s just pray. God, do whatever is needed in each of our hearts, our minds, and our lives, and our affections to bring us to serious somber, trembling confession of sin before you alone and when we’re together in our churches. God, we pray for spiritual awakening to the seriousness of sin and to the wonder of your grace and your mercy. We praise you. We don’t have to be afraid of confessing sin to you when Jesus has paid the price for it.
Jesus, we praise you for paying the price for our sin. Someone help us to turn from it with weeping and mourning and trembling confession in our time alone with you and in our time with others, in ways that lead us to celebrate your grace and your mercy, to rise not with our heads held low, but with our heads held high because of your grace and your mercy, your forgiveness of our sins. To then go and proclaim your forgiveness to the ends of the earth.
Prayer for the Yakan People
Oh God, we pray for people who don’t know about your forgiveness, about your grace, about mercy that is from your hand through Jesus.
God, we pray for the Yakan people of the Philippines, 204,000 of them in this Muslim people group that most of them have little to no knowledge of your grace and mercy. God, we pray for the spread of your forgiveness of sins to the Yakan people of the Philippines. Even as we live out of the overflow of your gracious forgiveness of sin in our lives, we pray all this according to your word in Ezra 9:3–6 in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
