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Scripture
Ezra 9:13 (NIV)
13 "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this.

Observation
Here's the scene... The people of Israel have been given amazing providence by a foreign king to return to Jerusalem and reconstruct the temple. King Darius reinforced the decrees of former King Cyrus, and the work to reconstruct the temple went forward with the full support and finances of the king. The remnant of God's people were allowed to return to their homeland after seven decades in exile. As a people they could have been completely erradicated, but God kept his hand on them and they were spared.

Now Ezra arrives on the scene, only to find that the people have started right back in to their old ways that resulted in God's judgment in the first place! You would think they had learned! But the paint wasn't even dry on the temple yet and already they are completely disobeying the commands handed down to them from Moses. Ezra tears his robe, pulls out his hair, and begins a prayer to God to intercede on behalf of the people.

The verse above is part of that prayer. What stood out to me was that Ezra acknowledged that their exile and all that had happened to them was completely their fault. No one else was to blame. They knew the commands of God and they broke them anyway. They knew if they continued God's judgment would be upon them, but it didn't slow them down. Ezra recognizes that as bad as exile had been, it could have been much worse. Their sins had been so great that God had every right to simply wipe them off of the map. But God was gracious and did not give them the punishment that they truly deserved.

What strikes me is how brutally honest Ezra was and how he took a "buck stops here" approach to this prayer. So many times we try to excuse our bad behavior... we weren't raised in the right environment, someone did something to me when I was a kid, I've never been able to catch a break, the excuses go on and on. Someone or something (besides us) is responsible for our bad behavior. Ezra didn't go there. He openly confessed that they had started their disobedient pattern again right where they left off, and that they had no one to blame but themselves. What a refreshing prayer that must be to God!

Application
"I did it... no excuses." That needs to be my prayer. It also needs to be to acknowledge God's goodness and his mercy for withholding from me what I truly deserve. He knows everything anyway... what is to be gained by playing games of denial and blame? The faster I acknowledge I am fully accountable for my actions, the faster God can heal me, transform me, and put my feet back on the right path.

Prayer
Lord I don't want to make any excuses for anything I do that displeases you... and I know it's a lot. I fully acknowledge my own guilt without trying to point the finger at someone or something else. Forgive me, cleanse me of my sin, and set my feet onto the path of righteousness.