From Open Up Your Heart by Jeff Syverson

August 10
Hope for the Hopeless

Today’s Scripture Readings: Psalm 85:8-13 | Ezra 10:1-44 | 1 Corinthians 6:1-20 | Proverbs 21:3

Today’s Scripture Focus: Ezra 10

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.” (Ezra 10:2 NIV)

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” “There is always hope.” How do these two expressions fit together? Somehow Ezra’s story twists and turns through those two clichés. Maybe the hybrid expression would be: “It’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks, but there is always hope.”

The “old dogs” of Judah are returning to their old ways. God had been faithful to them, yet they once again proved to be hopelessly faithless. God had warned them about the effects of marrying the Canaanite…