‘Sorry’ is one of the hardest words to say. Even harder is being sorry. Sorry in the way 2 Corinthians 7 talks about it: ‘godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Sorry is hard, but good. Ezra 9 & 10 has the final piece of restoring true worship 450 years before Jesus – trembling at God’s word. True worship isn’t satisfied with a people, place & explanation – but a response that trembles before the Living God. In both Ezra’s time & ours, it is seen in commitment rather than compromise; confession without qualifiers; & comfort in God’s forgiving character.
