Bible study · Ezra 9:1-15
Ezra 9: A remnant that has escaped
Read Ezra 9:1-15 before you meet.
In a few lines
Ezra 9 is a confession that asks for nothing. Told that the leaders were first in the trespass (9:2), Ezra prays "our iniquities" (9:6), names mercy in the middle, "our God has not forsaken us in our bondage" (9:9), and ends, "you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped" (9:15).
The verse to carry
“For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.”
Ezra 9:9
To talk about
1. In the middle of his confession Ezra says, "our God has not forsaken us in our bondage" (9:9). When you've done wrong, which is harder for you to say to God: what you did, or what he has still given you?
2. The report was about others, but Ezra prays "our iniquities" (9:6) and "we have forsaken your commandments" (9:10). What would it look like for you to pray for your church or your group as "we"?
3. "Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel" gathered to Ezra (9:4). What does taking God's words that seriously look like in an ordinary week?