We sin so much. We want to get back to the place of blessing. Supposing my sin is laziness, temper, worldliness, what do I do? Easy repentance is usually unsuccessful. If I recognise it fleetingly, then I shall probably be as bad the next day. There is no avoiding this: heaviness and shame. We might have to help ourselves by assessing the damage we have done.
It is sad sometimes when seasoned Christians pour into the worship service, just in the nick of time: no preparation, no thinking, no reflection, no prior engagement with the Lord. That is so sad. Then there are others who are still coming in after the second hymn. Well you look here in Ezra, and you see great sincerity and earnestness and reflection before the first word of prayer. That is the standard; that is how it ought to be.
We have to pray that the people of God will see spiritual danger and take a stand. People who should stand firm sometimes don’t like the trouble of doing so. They show they would rather be back in compromise, and as a result another downgrade is likely to follow. We have seen a great weakening in the past even among those who seem to be strong. Baptists become mixed and then the proportions of faithful and unfaithful altered in the twentieth century for the worse. It was the same among the Anglicans. SPCK is now the handmade to liberalism and compromise. Today we again see those who don’t want to protest.