Instructed in the Law of God
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ZLw6_0rnOI?list=PL4ByrircmXL4AIWLkRrpeoEq_A6VmA54y
It was the time of the Feast of Trumpets. Many were gathered at Jerusalem. The scene was one of
mournful interest. The wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and the gates set up, but a large part of the city was still in ruins.
Ezra, now an aged man. At his right and left were gathered his brother Levites. Looking down from the platform, their eyes swept over a sea of heads. ...And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen: . . . and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Nehemiah 8:6
For those who are convicted of sin and weighed down with a sense of their unworthiness, there are lessons of faith and encouragement in this record. The Bible faithfully presents the result of Israel's apostasy; but it portrays also the deep humiliation and repentance, the earnest devotion and generous sacrifice, that marked their seasons of return to the Lord.
Every true turning to the Lord brings abiding joy into the life. When a sinner yields to the influence of the Holy Spirit, he sees his own guilt and defilement in contrast with the holiness of the great Searcher of hearts.