For over 30 years I’ve talked with men and women who deeply love God, but struggle to understand the Bible. Some believe that unless you are a Theologian, Pastor, or Christian leader, you really can’t understand it. But this is just not true. I’ve launched this simple podcast to help everyday men and women fall in love with the Word of God. Each day I’ll read a portion of Scriptures from the Old and New Testament, covering the entire Bible in one year. After I’ll give a brief devotional. To support this Podcast or follow my other work, visit my website at www.randygoudeau.com
Welcome to Day 221 of the Bible 365 Podcast! I'm so excited you are joining me on this journey through the entire Bible this year. Reminder that each episode in 2026 will have a brand new devotional.
Today we'll be reading through Ezra 8:21-36, 9; I Corinthians 5; Psalm 31:1-8; and Proverbs 21:1-2. Invite a family member or friend to join you as we grow in our knowledge of God through His Word.
Welcome to day 221 of the Bible 365 podcast. My name is Randy Gudo, and today we're going to be reading through Ezra chapter 8, verses 21 through 36, and chapter 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Psalm 31, verses 1 through 8, and Proverbs chapter 21, verses 1 and 2. The translation I'm using throughout this podcast is the Berean Standard Bible, also known as the BSB. Let's read. Ezra chapter 8, verses 21 through 36. And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he granted our request. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherubiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God. I weighed out into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, articles of silver weighing one hundred talents, one hundred talents of gold, twenty gold bowls valued at one thousand dericks, and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold. Then I told them, You are holy to the Lord, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a free will offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem before the leading priest, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families. So the priest and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem. On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days. On the fourth day in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Mirimouth, son of Uriah, the priest. Elieazar, son of Phinehos, was with him, along with the Levites Josebad, son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, son of Benui. Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time. Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. They also delivered the king's edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates, who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God. Ezra chapter 9. After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, The people of Israel, including the priest and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land, and the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness. When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled out some hair from my head and beard, and sat down in horror. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering. At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and subjected to the sword and to captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day. But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the Lord our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in his holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes. Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but he has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments that you gave through your servants the prophets, saying, The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end. Now therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever. After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt, though you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we again break your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would you not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor? O Lord, God of Israel, you are righteous, for we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before you. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans. A man has his father's wife, and you are proud. Shouldn't you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this? Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you. Psalm 31, verses 1 through 8. In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame. Save me by your righteousness. Incline your ear to me. Come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance. For you are my rock and my fortress. Lead me and guide me for the sake of your name. You free me from the net laid out for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth. I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the Lord I trust. I will be glad and rejoice in your loving devotion, for you have seen my affliction. You have known the anguish of my soul. You have not delivered me to the enemy. You have set my feet in the open. Proverbs 21, verses 1 and 2. The king's heart is a waterway in the hand of the Lord. He directs it where he pleases. All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. Today's devotional is going to be pretty quick. It's coming from Ezra chapter 9, verse 15. And this is such a beautiful prayer where Ezra is just pouring out his heart to the Lord. You know, he didn't do anything wrong, but the people did. But the way he is praying and interceding, it's as though he may have been guilty. I mean he speaks in such a way as he takes ownership after all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt. Shall we again break your commandments? And you know, so on and so forth. But verse 15, there's a part in here that just really hit me today. He says, O Lord, God of Israel, you are righteous, for we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before you. That sentence, though, here we are before you in our guilt. When I read that I thought, I would rather be able to be before God in my guilt than be away from Him. This is such a beautiful part of this prayer. Here we are before you in our guilt. I want to challenge and encourage those of you today who may have some things going on in your life, and it's sin, and you know that you're guilty, you feel that shame, and you are withdrawing from God. You withdraw from church, the body of Christ, you're isolating yourself, or you're just hiding in your sin. I want to encourage you to get before the Lord and say to him, Here I am before you in my guilt. And you know, you can stand before him because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you on the cross, because of the power of the resurrection. When the Spirit of God raised Christ from the dead, and the same Spirit that raised him from the dead dwells inside of you if you are a believer. Never withdraw, never run away, run towards him, in or not in your guilt. Let's pray. Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus, and right now I lift up those out there that maybe feel in the weight of guilt and shame and condemnation. They have things going on in their lives, and instead of coming before you, they have withdrawn. I pray that today they would feel strength from you, that your Holy Spirit would draw them and bring them before you, even in their guilt, where they can find forgiveness, healing, and restoration. Draw us close by the presence of your Holy Spirit and reveal your Son to us. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed today's devotional. If you're getting something out of the Bible 365 podcast, consider sharing it with your family and with your friends. Please continue to pray for me. I am praying for you. Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow with day two twenty two.
