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Ezra 10:10-11, Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. Now honor] the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.”

The people truly loved and respected Ezra and when they see how distraught he is, they also become distraught.  Ezra really doesn’t have to force the people to acknowledge their wrongdoing.  They know their guilt before God is significant.   They have intermarried with people who worship other gods.  They have broken God’s law and they know it.  Now what is to be done?

Ezra as the leader guides the people but doesn’t force them into any specific solution.  It is the people themselves who decide that the foreign wives and their children should be banned from their fellowship.  This is a hard one for me.  Presumably, some of these are innocents.  It wasn’t their fault that their father decided to marry a foreign woman.  And yet, they would be sent away.  Sin always has consequences.

I think that is a hard lesson for us.  Sin always has consequences.  Sometimes, the consequences are more severe than others.  In our case, we can receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ and be reconciled to God but that doesn’t remove the consequences for ourselves and others.  Sin always has consequences.

Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, We long for holiness and we are so far from it.  Help us.  More of you and less of me.  Amen