No. 29 of Returning Home (Renewed)
We like to keep sin private. The sin problems we deal with as individuals and as families are often tucked away. We call them “skeletons in the closet,” but they are sins. Family members convince each other, “It would only bring down the church if it were known” or “We must maintain our family image.” They continue the deception by believing God approves of their silence because it’s “for the good of the family” or “for the good of the church.” The family may even experience a sense of oneness because of their united decision to put up with it; yet, that silent unity, based on hiding sin, destroys the home from the inside. We women are especially susceptible to the damage that is created in our homes when the spiritual leaders of our families break covenant with God. We believe it is our duty to “stick it out” by saying nothing, or we are told we are not showing the respect due to our husbands by “blabbing about him all over town.” In truth, God’s perfect law is being sacrificed because silence enables sin to continue. When family peace or wifely submission is given precedence over God’s commands, idolatrous addictions and unholy practices flourish.
Ezra does not hold to this family-loyalty-over-God ideology at all. Ezra’s open misery at seeing the ongoing, public sin of Israel is an example for us. The impact of godless marriage and godless living should never have been overlooked, put up with, or condoned by the family of Israel. Family peace and family unity mean nothing when they are used to feed sin.
While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. – Ezra 10:1
Ezra goes before God in the presence of his family. He is not separate from their sin; he, too, is broken by this sin that is eating away at the hearts of his people. He humbles himself openly in their sight and hearing. Not in a closet. Not hidden from all those living in Jerusalem.
It is unfortunate, then, that this communicative practice is used to keep the Church from openly communicating their grief. Because of the nature of sin, the careful way it is announced leads the young to believe public sin that affects the congregation is to be hushed; it is not to be discussed, and it is a shame to be caught discussing it. These children, as adults, learn to transfer the shame of sin to the shame of speaking of the sin. This fear to speak of acts of sin within the family of God is a tool used by those who do not or cannot break away from the addictive nature of their sin. “Going forward” takes on a completely different hue when it is seen through the eyes of the hardhearted. They use the opportunity to publicly repeat as a means to silence the congregation, rather than to change their behavior. This leaves God’s family to suffer and grieve in silence. While the practice of confessing sin in a public way is encouraged in the New Testament, and the expedient nature of going before the congregation can be of great benefit, it often forces silence and guilt on the tenderhearted and guiltless who are grieving. The problem is found in the hearts of the people who have hardened themselves over the years to protect their sin so that it may continue.
There were definitely hardhearted people in Ezra’s time, as well. There were those who did not wish to give up their marriage ties to wicked nations. While their fellow-kinsmen grieved in silence, they took advantage of the silence to continue to live outside of God’s laws. It is Ezra who falls on his knees before God and before his brothers and sisters to beg God’s mercy. Ezra, who had not committed the sin, repented of it and confessed it openly before the Most High. This is so different from what we see with the system of going forward today! Imagine the effect such a public plea to God would have on a congregation if the leaders who see the sin in the Church’s midst–who did not commit it–were to cast themselves before God and openly beg Him to have mercy on His people. Imagine a member of the family kneeling before God in contrition for the sin that has taken hold in that home. What would be the response of those who heard this cry? How would it affect the many who love their brothers and sisters, who long to follow God, and who are caught up in the web of ongoing evil?
Ezra’s public cry to God for forgiveness moved the tenderhearted. They wept beside him. Through Ezra’s humble actions, the shackle of being bound to sin was revealed. It was laid bare before them all, and it caused them great pain. The shackle of godless marriages caused the pain, not Ezra’s open confession. Sometimes we become frustrated with the person who reveals the sin. He/she often gets the blame for “making trouble” or “discouraging others.” This belief is completely false. The sin is the trouble. The sin is the discouragement.
And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. -Ezra 10:2
Shecaniah owns the sin. He admits to “breaking faith with our God.” The marriage covenants between these Israelite men to Canaanite women broke their previous covenant with Jehovah. In essence, they’d rejected their marriage to God for a marriage to a godless partner. The godless union became the center of their lives. It became the altar upon which they sacrificed the worship they’d promised to God. From those godless marriages grew the web of imprisoning consequences. The men of Israel were no longer able to approach God in worship because they were impure before Him through that impure marriage. Their children–the legacy of these families–were impure and could not stand before God. Therefore, when Shecaniah states, “even now there is hope,” he sees their situation within the web of sin in which they had trapped themselves. The problem would seem hopeless, but Shecaniah can see the problem clearly and he knows the solution. He sees the answer to change their cut-off position before God.
Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.” – Ezra 10:3
God is merciful to those who wish to return to Him. Like Shecaniah, we are given the opportunity to recommit to Jehovah our God. We, too, can renew our hearts at any time. Shecaniah shows us the desire to repent is more than a sense of regret for committing the sin. It is more than saying, “I don’t want to live like this anymore.” Repentance requires change, and that takes a heart that will rise to the challenge.