When Ezra learned how the Jews had not learned from their seventy-year Babylonian captivity in not separating from paganism, he prayed to God with these humble words, “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens” (Ezra 9:6).
Ezra understood the problem of sin, and he felt its burden, not just for his own sins, but for those of his nation. Let us capture the spirit of Ezra.