Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

PARROTS A man purchased a parrot. Unfortunately, he soon found out his bird had a lurid vocabulary. The man had a friend who also owned a parrot. This bird had been taught to only sing hymns. So the man decided to put the two birds together. He hoped that the hymn-singing parrot could teach the swearing bird better language. After leaving the birds together for some time, the man found--to his dismay--that the hymn-singer forgot his songs and took up the questionable language of his new companion. Ezra saw the same kind of deterioration among the Israelites. They married foreigners and, rather than raising them to meet God's standards, the Israelites were dragged down by evil influence. Ezra went to God in desperate prayer seeking a solution (Ezra 9:5-15). He was ashamed that God's people had so soon forgotten the bitter lesson of captivity. God heard Ezra's prayer and through him brought the people back to Himself. There are two important lessons in Ezra's prayer. First is the vital importance of choosing the right friends. We do become like those closest to us in many subtle ways. Second, we must notice that Ezra first talked to God about the problem; he did not complain to others. We often criticize first and then pray. May we learn to pray for those entrapped by evil. And may we choose our friends as if our life depends on it. It does.