Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Isaiah 40:28.

Hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. Psalm 130:7.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Titus 2:11.

In our chapter, Ezra 9, I couldn’t help but wonder why couldn’t the people have been strong enough in the love and faith of God that their love for God would have drawn others to Him? Ezra has been told that the people have intermarried and have taken on detestable practices, v. 1-2. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

Ezra mourned because the very sins that lead us into captivity to sin – then and now – cause great harm. Captivity to sin. The people were captive to the sin of believing in what was not God. They worshipped what was not God. The Israelites should have known better. God had chosen them to lead other nations to the truth of His being and His love. They failed. What is it God is wanting us to come out of? The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. v. 11. He had chosen a nation, steeped in sins, to come out and be separate so they could learn to worship the Creator God in truth. To know God. He didn’t choose them because they were better than the people around them. He chose them because they descended from Abraham, God’s faithful friend.

Abraham wasn’t perfect. The Children of Israel weren’t perfect. We are not perfect. Is there corruption and impurity in our lands today? Does that corruption and impurity cause great harm to us and others still?

What can be done? Trust in the Creator God who began all things by creating. He who is Wisdom and creates such amazing, beautiful creation created you and me. Do you think He created us to be left in darkness?

Worshiping what is not God is darkness then and darkness now. In God’s light we see hope. We see and come to know our Creator God. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12. Jesus, the Word, became flesh…one of us…so we could see God’s heart of love for us. Can you imagine?

The people then who persisted in worshiping what was not God are long dead and buried. Their story is not over. They didn’t have a chance to know God then. People let them down. Our Creator God is the Light of Life that gives hope to all. Trusting Him brings peace no darkness can overcome. As you turn to God you open your heart to His love. So simple. So needed. Then and now and into eternity. Does that sound too simple? In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was with God…and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life…and that life was/is the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5. That is our hope. The hope of all mankind. Thank You, Lord, for providing a way with You leading us. Thank You that You don’t leave salvation up to us. Help me to learn how to love others as You would have me love. In You I see Hope!