Prayer: Father, I must be aligned with You through Your Word and commandments. Lead me into an understanding which is aligned with You. I ask for Your mind and heart. Amen.
Reading: Ezra 10 key: vs. 10-12 “Then Ezra the kohen stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and taken foreign wives, increasing the guilt of Israel. So now, give praise to Adonai, the God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from your foreign wives.” The entire assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes, we will do just as you have said.” TLV
Attention: Have you ever participated in a genuine move of God? Those corporate experiences usually are evidenced by crying and weeping, a total release of guilt, shame, and remorse. Repentance brings a total change of direction. A pivot from doing things our way, to doing things God’s way.
Adonai had told the Hebrew nation through Moses, that they were not make a covenant with “seven nations”, nor were they to marry foreign wives (Deuteronomy 7:1-6). The concern was that the wives would turn their hearts away from God. With all the wisdom given King Solomon by Adonai, his heart turned away from God regarding this very command. Many of King Solomon’s wives were given to him by kings of other nations sealing a covenant with King Solomon. The very thing God told him not to do, he did.
So, the difficult question many ask regarding this passage, “Did they put away or divorce their wives?”
Before answering this question, I want to offer you another difficult passage found in Judges 11:30-31. Did Jephthah keep his vow? According to the text, he did keep his vow. I would encourage you to read and study the solemnity of vows made to Adonai. God takes vows very seriously and I would suggest we should too. Ecclesiastes 5:3-4 tells us that “It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay.”
So, did the Hebrew exiles put away their foreign wives? If we accept the record of Ezra, it reads “The entire assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes, we will do just as you have said” (vs. 12). An emotionally difficult thing for sure. The text states (vs. 44), that some of them had children with their foreign wives. This was an act of submission to the commands of God on which they could not compromise. Obedience was the only action which would turn away the wrath of God (vs. 14). Obedience is the only thing which turns away the wrath of God on our lives too.
Is there something you are doing in defiance of the living God? I encourage you to act in haste at making the very thing, which is provoking God, right. Today is the Day of Reconciliation with God.
Action: I choose obedience to the Word and command of God.
Yield: I choose to submit to the laws and command of God.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in reconciling with God.
Relationship: I choose to live in holy, intimate relationship with God.
Prayer: Father, I pray for reconciliation with You first and then reconciliation with family members and friends. You are first and foremost in our hearts. When our vertical relationship is right, our horizontal relationships have a chance to be right too. Amen.
Memory Verse: Ecclesiastes 5:3-4 “When you swear a vow to God, don’t delay in fulfilling it. For He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay.”
Music Video: Lauren Daigle—You Say https://youtu.be/HqpNGYbcy3U?si=CczY3mRIzTin8nZj
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”