Less Than our Sins Have
Deserved
"What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this." (Ezra 9:13-14 -- emphasis mine)
The setting is
Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem have been robbed
of their homeland, many of them have been slaughtered with
the sword or have died of famine or pestilence. And
now, though a remnant has been allowed to return to
Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, the Jewish nation is
still under the authority of pagan kings. They
are still suffering from fierce opposition from
the peoples around them. And in the midst of all of
this, even while looking back on years and years of
horrible atrocities suffered by his own people,
Ezra the priest has the audacity to say, "and yet, our
God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved
. . ."
Wow. When you
look at the extent of the punishment that has been dished
out, how on Earth could Ezra say that they had been
punished less than they deserved?
But let's look at it
from a different perspective. The punishment given
to the Jewish people was the result of hundreds of years
of defying God, worshiping other gods, persecuting those
who stood up for the Living God, committing all kinds of
atrocities directly against the God of Heaven, "spitting
in God's face" so to speak for the mighty blessings He do
longed to pour out upon the people. The people of
Israel had been given chance after chance after chance.
But still they persist in defying God through idolatry.
Yes, perhaps if we
look at it from this perspective, the punishment does
look a little more just, doesn't it? And the
fact that God preserved a remnant people out of the
Babylonian exile does seem a bit more generous --
like perhaps they people had indeed received less
punishment than their sins deserved!
So where is the
lesson in this for us? Some of us might be tempted
to point a finger at ancient Israel, but those who do are
merely picking at specks out of the eyes of the ancient
civilization, while ignoring the logs in their own eyes
(Matt. 7:3-5)! We, too, have committed atrocities
against the Lord, and and sometimes we are forced to
suffer the consequences of those atrocities! When
this happens, do we look at our circumstance and say,
"Lord, how can you be allowing all of this terrible stuff
to happen to me! I thought you were a God of love!"
Or, like Ezra of old, do you look to your own actions, the
same ones that caused the consequences you now suffer, and
say, "and yet, our God, you have punished us less than
our sins have deserved"? The Bible tells us that
the wages of any sin is death. Death is what we all
deserve. That is the just punishment. But by
the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we do not
have to suffer the punishment for our sin! Any
consequence of our own actions that we suffer is indeed,
"less than our sings have deserved"!
The next time you
find yourselves in the middle of bad circumstances, why
not try praising God from within the midst of them?
Praise God for His mercy and grace. Praising God
that you are NOT suffering the punishment you deserve.
Thank Him for the "break" He has given you in not forcing
you to suffer the rightful punishment for your sin!
Remember, nothing that we suffer here on Earth is equal to
the eternal punishment that is our just due!
"What has
happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great
guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less
than our sins have deserved and have given us a
remnant like this."
(Ezra 9:13-14)
(Ezra 9:13-14)
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,
Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,