SOAP Ezra 2: Welcome Back

Welcome Back

Ezra 2

These searched for their family records but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.

Ezra 2: 62-63

This was an odd chapter for me to read and study on. It really was just a list of names for me until I got further into the verse. I know these are the names of the families who were exiled and kept in captivity. But what can I gain from a list of names? I had to dig deep to really understand the lesson within this passage.

For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

1 Peter 2:19

Through this list of names and record keeping those who were in exile were allowed to return their jobs and social roles based on family roots. Even though God had punished them, he never forgot them or forsake them. And they were welcome back into God’s promise fully.

I think of my children, yes there were times I needed to punish them. But nothing they did or could do would ever keep me for welcoming them home to me. There was a group that could not be validated. Their ancestry could not be found in the records. What I love here is the reminder that God is sovereign and even when we can’t prove our own worth, the Lord will define it for us.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!

Corinthians 2 5:17

This passage really makes known to me that I am who He says I am. I may think positively about my ancestry. I can believe I am smart, talented or gifted, all based on my genes. But God will decide my worth. This also gives me hope. I can believe I am full of dysfunction, anxiety and pride all based on my family history and thoughts. But God will decide who I am and use me for good. He is the Lord of All!

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.

Psalm 138:8

Prayer: Father, you are the God of all creation and you never stop recreating and using us for your good. In Jesus, I celebrate that I am a new creation. Let that be evident to me, proven by the Holy Spirit confirming it, by conforming my life to your will. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.