Getting real with God: men, women and children

The Israelites had high points and low points. There were also times when as a collective people they found themselves before God and up for critical self-evaluation. These were profound moments in their corporate life.

The last couple of chapters of Ezra is one of these occasions. Realising that God sees everything, their pretence of previous years is now stripped away and reality hits home. God had given them a high calling as a people which quite simply they had not lived up to. They could hide no longer - they now understood for themselves how much they were found to be lacking.

They could run away, try and explain it away, try and excuse their way out of it, or simply face up to it. In chapter 10 verse 1 they do the latter, gathering round Ezra and letting their emotions floood out. Not very British, but this wasn't a time to be British, it was a time to get real with God.

An extraordinary aspect of this episode is that they all took part: men, women and children. An all age gathering on a serious scale at a critical point in their life. The children were not hived off to 'age appropriate activities', but were part of the collective interaction between God and His people.

What kind of year will 2012 be for you? One where you try and just carry on, one where you continue to be on the run. A year of fresh explanations, or one where you find excuses. Or will it be a year where you come before God, good and bad, and let it all come out - to be real as you can possibly be with the One who grants you your existence.

Whoever you are, however you have succeeded or failed in the past, stop hiding, remove the veneer. Make it your aim to join others in getting real with God: men, women AND children.