Father, we come before you as your people together to hear your word.
Lord, this is a very ancient story, over 2,500 years old.
And yet, you are the same God that is in our midst this morning.
So Lord, we ask that you would teach us by your word,
that you would open our eyes and open our hearts.
And Lord, may only the truth be spoken and only the truth be heard.
We pray in Christ's mighty name. Amen.
Amen. If you have a Bible, we'll be in Ezra chapter 7, a little bit in chapter 8 this morning.
If you were here last week, you would know that we were in chapter 3.
So we are skipping portions of the text.
We'll have one more week next week at Ezra, and then we'll get into Nehemiah.
A bit of a reminder that Ezra, Nehemiah, originally were one book.
So that's why we're combining both.
And in a real way, we get the full story with the reading of both.
But before we get into a bit of a recap of the section that we're skipping over,
I'll just say a couple words here.
What does it mean to be a blessed person?
What does it mean to be a person who knows divine favor,
or just any favor, that is, to enjoy a bit of a good life?
I mean, it's a bit old now, but hashtag blessed was a thing for a while there.
I think my mom even made an arts and crafts thing that she wanted it to feature fairly prominently in our house.
I'm not sure where it is right now.
But anyways, it was like a thing, hashtag blessed.
But what does it mean to be blessed?
What does it mean to enjoy favor?
It's a really important question to answer.
Not just for the Christian, but for all people.
Because I put forward to you that to be blessed, to enjoy favor,
the richness of whatever situation you are in,
is something that we all long for and we all desire.
In chapters 7 and 8, this comes up quite a bit in the text.
It doesn't necessarily say blessed, or it doesn't necessarily talk about favor,
although, like, explicitly.
But in chapters 7 and 8 of Ezra, we'll read at least six times where it will say,
the hand of the Lord.
And the hand of the Lord is upon this person, or was upon me, or whatever it may be.
But the hand of the Lord features very prominently in our section.
And our attention is drawn to the phrase for a reason, and it has great significance.
And I think, put forward again to you,
that it will help us to understand what it means to live a blessed life,
to, in a sense, have the hand of the Lord upon us.
So what is the hand of the Lord?
Is it just for Ezra?
I mean, Ezra, the hand of the Lord is upon Ezra.
It's unmistakable in these two chapters.
The hand of the Lord, the hand of the Lord is upon Ezra.
Is it just for him?
If not, how can we acquire it?
So, we'll jump into that.
But first, I've got to catch you guys up on the narrative.
We skipped over a number of chapters.
It's very helpful to contextualize where we're at in the story.
So we stopped in chapter 4, verse 6.
And it goes all the way to 6.22, that we've skipped over that section.
And in that section, Israel's enemies look to hinder the work of God in terms of building the temple.
And they're very successful.
20 years go by.
A hammer is not lifted.
A block is not placed upon another.
The temple rebuild.
There was a big pause put on it.
Chapters 5 and 6, the work continues.
Very interestingly.
Even though there are challenges and attempts to thwart the plan.
Especially calling into question the legitimacy of God's people and their task at hand.
So, the work is finally completed in chapter 6.
It's a remarkable section.
There is a dedication and much celebration.
And immediately after the narrative, the Passover is celebrated.
I won't get into the Passover.
We mention it, I mean, somewhat fairly regularly because it features so heavily in the Bible.
But it's significant in the celebration of the temple because the Passover represents God's deliverance from the hand of slavery.
And it really marks the beginning of the people of God becoming their own nation.
And to celebrate the Passover is, in a sense, celebrating that God is restoring them back into the land.
So, at the end of chapter 6, that is what we see.
And it really, in a sense, marks the part 1 of three parts of Ezra and Nehemiah.
And part 1, part 2, part 3, they're each marked with a significant figure.
So, part 1, it's this character called Zerubbabel.
And we haven't really talked about him a whole ton.
But his task was primarily to rebuild the temple.
Now, that section is finished.
And chapter 7, in walks Ezra.
Now, it's interesting that Ezra walks in well over half of the way through the book.
But Ezra here is the next key figure.
And if Zerubbabel came in to rebuild the temple, Ezra came to reestablish God's law in the land.
And we'll talk about what I mean by God's law.
But Ezra, he is a scribe.
He is a Bible teacher.
He is very concerned that the nation of Israel follow God's ways.
And if you remember last week, or if you've read in 1 and 2 Chronicles,
it is precisely the departure from God's word that gets Israel into the mess they're in.
So, Ezra, he's a key figure in all of this.
Sure, they rebuilt the temple.
Things are great.
But the temple means nothing without God's word.
So, that's where we are.
And here is where we are going to pick up the narrative.
Ezra, like I mentioned, is chiefly concerned with restoring the law to Israel,
but specifically to restore Israel to right relationship with God, according to the Holy Scriptures.
Ezra, right off the bat, in verses 1 to 6, his pedigree is laid out.
But Brad, I mean, noble attempt at reading the list of names are very difficult.
What you really need to know with the list of names, I mean, we could, not to say that they don't matter,
but the big key in all of this is that last name.
He's a son of Aaron, the chief priest.
The chief priest.
Now, Aaron was the one whom all the priests came from.
He was the brother of Moses, and Aaron, as the chief priest, was supposed to help the people follow the Lord according to God's word.
If you remember, he did not do that very well.
Moses is up on Mount Sinai getting the law from God.
It's this huge, momentous occasion in the nation's history.
Getting the law isn't just God's do's and don'ts.
It is establishing Israel as a nation.
Before they were sojourners and slaves in Egypt, but now they're their own nation.
And Moses comes down, and what does he see?
The people are impatient.
And Aaron, on their behalf, crafts for them an idol.
And yet, he is a priest that is still God's servant.
Huge, huge blunder.
Ezra here is going to try to, in a sense, be the anti-Aaron in that case.
He's going to cling fast to God's word.
And his chief concern is being used by God to, like I mentioned,
to not just bring the law back to them, but to re-establish the nation.
Because the nation of Israel is established by God's word.
So it's a key aspect in all of this.
So, that's a bit of a background of where we're coming from, who Ezra is.
Now, let's jump into the text.
I'm hoping to draw three main things out of our text for this morning.
We're going to look at, really, scripture.
What is God's word?
Why is this so deeply connected, God's word and scripture?
Why is it so deeply connected to God's favor as well?
So keep all that in the back of your head.
We're going to look at three things.
First, the nature of scripture.
What is scripture?
The second thing is, after the nature of scripture, is the student of scripture.
How does one engage with God's word?
And then the last one we'll take a look at is the joy of walking according to God's word, according to holy scripture.
So, what is scripture?
How do we study it?
And we're going to take a look at the joy that comes with it.
Very simple, very profound.
Let's jump right in.
Okay, the nature of scripture.
I'm drawing a lot of this point out.
In fact, almost the entire point out from the first half of verse 6.
So, look with me.
Verse 6 of chapter 7.
This Ezra, talking about the descendant of Aaron, the chief priest, went up from Babylonia.
That means he is on his way to Jerusalem from Babylon.
And this Ezra was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses, that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
And I'll pause right there.
Seems like an interesting line.
Something we could quickly gloss over.
And yet, it is packed with, in a sense, not an exhaustive understanding of scripture,
but a very deep understanding of scripture.
And like I mentioned about talking a bit about the law, the law of God isn't just the do's and don'ts.
Although there are many do's and don'ts.
There is, within the law of God, lots of laws.
But the word law that we read is a translation of Torah in Hebrew,
which is maybe a better way to say it is like the ways of God.
But even that doesn't quite articulate the fullness of what Torah means.
Because God's law, the first five books of the Old Testament, starting in Genesis and ending in Deuteronomy,
it's more than just about God's ways.
But it's the story of God, the creator God, and how he makes a covenant and promises with the people.
Really, if we're going to talk about the Torah, we need to talk about the story of God,
and how he has created everything, and how he has connected a people together for his own namesake.
In reality, it's a story of God interacting with human beings.
That is what the law is.
And when it talks about the law of Moses, it is talking about this Torah, this law, this way of God,
this story of who God is and what he has done.
So it's very important that we understand that when we talk about God's law,
it's not just don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't lie.
It is an insight into who this God is and how he has invited us to partake in him.
And Ezra would have known all of this.
Why? He was skilled in the law of Moses.
Which means that first and foremost, he knows God and how God has made the world
and how God wants the world to exist.
He is, in a sense, a practitioner of life,
according to God's rules and God's commands and God's, most importantly, his heart.
He would know that God makes covenants and promises that he will not break.
He knows that God has created all things and has deemed it good.
He would know, Ezra would know, that all of life was to be designed to be enjoyed.
Except that, and that he would also know that this enjoyment is always threatened because of sin and evil.
This is what Ezra would know.
So when it says that he is skilled in the law of Moses,
think, Ezra, he knows God.
And it would seem that God would know him.
What else do we see from this sentence?
Well, we also see that Scripture is never a private matter.
It is always given to the Lord's people for their great benefit.
We see this here.
We see, I'll just read the whole verse, the first section.
Ezra was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
I've referenced it already that God gave the law to Moses,
but he gave it in the sight of the entire assembly of Israel.
So that when Moses was up by himself, okay, on the mountain,
God descended upon the mountain,
and what the people saw would be supernatural and unmistakable.
There would be lightning and thunder,
and it would be a very frightening, scary sight.
And in a sense, God, by doing so,
revealed to everybody that he truly was there,
and that the law that was given was for them,
for all of them together.
Father, Holy Scripture is always for the community,
because Holy Scripture builds the community
and makes the community out of individuals or groups or families
that might have things in common, oftentimes do not,
but God's Word always makes a people for himself.
And this is what is happening at Mount Sinai,
and this is what is referred to here,
that the God of Israel had given the law of Moses to the people of God.
So, this is where kind of the rubber hits the road,
because we don't live in a Christian nation.
We don't.
We live in a pluralistic nation
of many different religions or no religion.
I would put forward that there really isn't a no religion.
We are religious people.
But people that claim to be atheists
or whatever their faith is.
Two examples.
Mormonism.
And there's a church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
just down the road on Old Richmond here,
and a mosque even farther down in Bell's Corners.
But those two faiths, as an example,
they have built everything on private revelation,
that God has given his Word to a specific person
without witnesses,
without people seeing what has happened.
And then from that person,
they become a prophet,
and they share,
and the religion grows and grows and grows and grows.
That's not what happens with Holy Scripture.
God gives,
He reveals Himself in the midst of a congregation.
That's very important,
because it doesn't matter what I think,
it doesn't matter what Joseph Smith thought,
or Muhammad thought.
What is God saying?
That's the big thing.
Throughout Scripture,
God is revealing Himself constantly,
not just to individuals,
although that definitely does happen,
but always to groups,
always to the nation,
always to the masses.
And even when He reveals Himself to a prophet,
it's either calling people back to God's law,
God's ways,
faithfulness to God,
or warning them about what is going to happen
because of their departure from God's Word.
So important is it that people don't make things up in Scripture
that the prophet who gets God's Word wrong
is liable to death.
So it's kind of a big thing that God reveals Himself
and that He desires us to take that very seriously.
So in the New Testament,
also we see the risen Lord.
He doesn't appear to one or to a couple,
but by the time Jesus ascends,
He will have appeared to multitudes,
hundreds of people.
And again, this is in keeping with God's ways
of how He reveals Himself and His Word
for the sake of the entire community.
The Scriptures are always for the community
because the Scriptures form the community itself.
And this is why we read so much Scripture on Sunday mornings
and why it really, truly doesn't matter
if I crack a joke or not
or if I have an opinion about something or not
or whatever it may be.
What is God saying in His Word?
And I'm not saying I nail it every week
or that everybody is always speaking God's Word
in every corner of this church
before the service, during or after.
But this is our goal
because it is God's Word that forms
and sustains our community.
This is what we are reminded of week after week.
God's community is always formed by God's Word.
So immediately after this,
we see, interestingly,
the first reference to this hand of God,
this connection between God's Word and God's favor.
Look with me at the second part of verse 6 of chapter 7.
Why don't I read the full verse here?
This Ezra went up from Babylonia.
He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses
that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
And the king granted him,
that's the Persian king,
all that he asked, why?
For the hand of the Lord his God was on him.
The connection between Ezra's skills in Scripture,
his reverence for Scripture,
his knowledge of what Scripture is,
is directly connected to the hand of the Lord
being upon him.
It really is unmistakable.
And this leads nicely to our second point.
If Ezra is skilled in Scripture,
and this results in the hand of the Lord being on him,
how do we become students of Scripture?
How do we approach Scripture?
How do we read Scripture?
What are we to do?
Look with me to verse 10 here.
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord,
and to do it,
and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
The first thing to notice is that Ezra,
he has a great desire to know the Word of God.
He desires to know it for himself.
His heart is inclined to study what God has revealed.
It wasn't merely a job for him as a scribe,
but a privilege.
He knew the value of Scripture,
for in Scripture, like we mentioned,
he would meet the Lord.
So the studying of Scripture isn't an easy task.
It's not.
It requires diligence and effort.
It involves patience.
That's a hard thing.
A very impatient culture we live in.
Your pastor is an impatient man,
oftentimes.
It also requires meditation,
to chew and to think through
and to dwell upon,
to have a focus to it.
There's also a huge temptation
in studying God's Word,
to think of oneself as superior to others
that might not know how much you know.
And that's a huge danger.
It is a fine line, in a sense,
of being a minister.
I'll speak to myself,
but I share this stuff because who knows
if God will raise up somebody else
from our congregation
to lead another church one day.
Who knows?
But it is a fine line to walk,
to know God,
and to immerse yourself in Scripture,
and to not be puffed up,
to not think of yourself as more worthy.
The great irony in this
is that Scripture,
if read properly,
if engaged with properly,
if knowing that Scripture is about God,
and it is a gift from Him,
it should result in the more we know,
the humbler we become.
Because who are we before Almighty God?
Who are we?
And yet,
the human mind and the human heart,
they can be terribly deceptive things.
Thinking, in a sense,
I know a lot about God,
and all of a sudden,
we kind of make ourselves
to be like God.
Not in terms of His holiness,
but in His stature.
A terrible thing.
Jesus encountered this all the time
in the New Testament.
The people that knew the most
seemed to have cared the least.
There's a great temptation there.
But Ezra here,
it's very clear,
and we'll see a bit later on,
that as he engages in
his study of Scripture,
man, this guy,
he is humble.
And he recognizes his great need
for God.
All the time, it seems.
Later on,
he's maybe not so humble.
He's a human being.
But here,
as he engages in Scripture,
he is very,
he's very humble.
And that is a good sign
for somebody who studies God's Word.
And it's not just for ministers,
but for you and I,
as we dig into Scripture,
as we come to church,
and we're reading it,
and we're pondering it,
when we wake up,
if you do the daily offices,
or if you have your own
Bible reading plan,
your own devotions
in the morning,
or in the evening,
or both,
this is for all of us.
So a sign of a Bible scholar,
and a student of God's Word,
will always be humility.
It will always be humility.
For to truly know God's Word
is to truly know
how unworthy we are
to even know Him,
let alone to have the privilege
of being called a son and daughter.
It is a humbling thing.
And humility isn't to be humiliated.
Right?
To have that humility
is to be in the most sure spot
to be in relationship with God
and to know who we are.
But more importantly,
to know who He is.
That is why it is really important.
The second bit
that we can see here
is as we study Scripture,
we can't really study Scripture
and know Scripture
apart from knowing God.
One story,
another personal story,
I did,
in a weird roundabout way,
I ended up doing my undergrad
in religious studies at Carleton,
and I came across
a professor
for a number of classes,
Zeba Crook,
if anybody has been in Ottawa
for a while
or has taken some classes,
and he was the head
of the biblical criticism
kind of section
in Carleton's
religious studies department.
And this man was immersed
in Scripture,
like day in and day out.
He could read Greek
better than the Greeks.
Like,
he was an incredible mind,
a brilliant guy.
But in the end,
because,
you know,
his words,
he was an atheist,
he did not believe in God,
the conclusions he came to
were not life-giving,
but instead,
in a big way,
I mean,
eroded the foundation
of the faith
of so many,
you know,
19 to 21-year-olds
that don't know,
you know,
up from down.
I mean,
God love undergrad students,
okay?
It's not a time
to come to learn
and be built up,
but in a sense,
it is a time of,
it's like,
if you have students
in your life,
pray for them.
It's a tough time.
to know the scriptures
is to know God,
and you can't divorce the two.
You can't,
this isn't a textbook
that we can read
as if it's history.
It is a story
that God is engaging
with people,
and we get to be a part of it.
It's an invitation
into this wonderful story.
So,
it's a huge aspect
of all of this.
Look with me again
to verse 10.
Ezra set his heart
to study the law
of the Lord,
but then,
what does it say next?
But to also do it.
That to be a student
of God's word
means hypocrisy.
It really needs to be
very far from God's people.
And this is something
the church struggles with.
There's a lot of own goals
in the church
where we're hypocrites.
We don't practice
what we preach.
And I mean,
you could think through
things in your own life
where you've been a hypocrite.
We've all been hypocrites.
But God's word
commands us
to respond
as we study God's word.
It is not
in a lab
like I alluded to
that we study God's word
and we can just
do whatever we want
afterwards.
We ask the question,
how shall I then live?
Ezra here
was careful
to not just study
God's word,
but to do it.
And then the third thing
is to teach it.
Now,
I'm not saying
if you study God's word,
if you engage in scripture,
like next Sunday,
you're up.
I'm not saying that.
But without a doubt,
if you're a parent,
you have a responsibility
to teach your children.
Not perfectly, okay?
I'm not,
not perfectly,
but you have a,
you have a responsibility
to teach,
to,
to pass on the knowledge.
Because again,
we're talking not about
a sterile history,
but about God,
a person
that,
that is deeply,
deeply,
deeply involved
in every aspect
of your life,
whether you know it or not.
You,
you get excited.
It's a relationship.
It's a,
it's a connection.
It's a,
degrees of thankfulness
and intrigue
and you want to share it.
I mean,
so there's an aspect
of teaching it
to,
to share with people
what you've learned,
but to also bear witness
to others
about who this God is.
So whether it's
a Christian or not,
we,
as we engage
in God's word,
we have to teach it
in a sense.
So maybe a teach
kind of freaks you out.
Okay,
think of it like sharing.
Maybe that would be
a better way.
So,
there's a study aspect
to it.
There is
a doing aspect
to it
and then there's
a teaching,
sharing aspect
to God's word.
So,
again,
where does God's hand
come in
to play here?
Look with me.
Up one verse
to verse nine.
For on the first day
of the first month
he began to go up
from Babylonia
and on the first day
of the fifth month
he came to Jerusalem.
I mean,
just verse nine there,
Ezra is going
from Babylon
to Jerusalem.
It's a thousand,
something like a thousand
miles.
They gloss over it
in one verse,
okay?
There it is.
Continuing on.
So,
he's going up
from Babylonia
and on the first day
of the fifth month
he came to Jerusalem
for the good hand
of his God
was on him.
There we see it again
and the proximity
to Ezra
and in scripture
it again
is unmistakable.
As God blesses
his name
and blesses his word
so too
will he bless
the right
and humble handling
of scripture.
So,
yet again
we see that
the hand of God
is connected
to scripture
and the right handling
and humble handling
of God's word.
And this
takes us
to the third
section.
Look with me
verse 27
and 28
of chapter 7.
So,
if we know
what scripture is,
if it's very clear
on how we are
to engage
with scripture,
what is the result
of scripture?
If you remember
back in chapter 3
last week,
the people,
a part of
a real genuine faith
was a joyful faith.
We saw that
at the end
of chapter 3
and we see
that same joy
as a result
of knowing God's word
and walking
in God's ways
here.
So,
look with me
at verse 27
and 28.
Blessed be the Lord,
the God of our fathers
who put such a thing
as this
into the heart
of the king
to beautify
the house
of the Lord
that is in Jerusalem.
Background,
again,
Ezra has found
favor with the king
to go back
to Jerusalem.
The king
is going to help him
get there.
He's going to make sure
that everything he needs
he has
and this is all
why?
Because God
has put it
onto the heart
of the king.
So,
let's start again
in verse 27.
Blessed be the Lord,
the God of our fathers
who put such a thing
as this
into the heart
of the king
to beautify
the house
of the Lord
that is in Jerusalem.
Verse 28,
And who extended
to me
his steadfast love
before the king
and his counselors
and before all
the king's mighty officers.
I took courage
for the hand
of the Lord
my God
was on me
and I gathered
leading men
from Israel
to go up
with me.
The right handling
of scripture,
the humble handling
of scripture
will always result
in right theology
and
and that will
always result
in doxology.
Put another way,
as we engage
in God's word
and we know
his will
and know
who he is
and who we are
in light of that,
the result
will be praise.
It will be.
It will be joy
as it pertains
to our culture.
We're not going
to jump
and dance
likely,
but we will have joy
and we will express
it in our own way.
In this section,
Ezra praises God
for showing him
favor before the king
and notice once again
the latter part
of verse 28.
What does it say?
The hand of the Lord
was upon him.
So we praise God
for what he has done.
Ezra has put his mind
to the Lord
and God's word.
His heart is to
reestablish
the reading
and proclamation
of God's word
among his people.
He is diligent
to study it,
to do it,
to teach it.
And what is happening?
God is blessing him
because the hand
of the Lord
is upon him.
There is that connection
once again
with God's word
and God's favor.
So we praise God.
We can gather from this.
We can praise God
for what he has done,
how he is sustaining us
in the here and now,
but also
what he is going to do.
But more important
than all that,
we praise God
for who he is
because he has made promises
that he has kept.
That he has expressed
steadfast love to us
when we do not deserve it.
He has extended mercy to us
when we should have
received judgment.
We praise God
for who he is
and what he has done.
And this is where
I'll just talk about
the hand of the Lord
in a bit more detail
because I worry
that as we've gone
through this section,
what we've heard
is that
as we study
the Bible,
God's hand
will be on us
and we will have
wonderful,
happy lives.
God's hand
but the fact is
in this situation,
okay,
in this situation,
I mean,
Ezra's going to have
some tough things
ahead of him
but he is
experiencing a lot
of favor.
but what happens
when we are diligent
in knowing God's word
and gathering
with God's people
and genuinely
seeking his face
and seeking him
for who he is
and not just
what he does
and we are
engaging in God's word
and studying it
and wrestling with it
and pondering it
and praying it
and meditating upon it
and being really
by God's strength
and his help,
you know,
not being hypocrites
and doing
what it commands us
to do
and trying our best
to share it
and life goes south
because that happens.
So,
what on earth
are we to gather
from something like this?
Is this just a,
you know,
do A,
add B
and you're going
to get C.
I think what's
a better way
to understand
this hand of the Lord
is that
as we seek God's face
to do God's will,
that's the key aspect
in this.
God will show us
favor
just because
we know him
and what he has done
and we would know
right relationship
with him.
That the key aspect
in all of this
is really
what is God's will.
In this case,
rebuild the temple,
reestablish the law.
We'll see in Nehemiah,
rebuild the walls
in the city.
But for Jesus,
he was a perfect
law keeper.
He had perfect favor
from God.
He knew the scriptures
because he was
the word of God
himself.
God's hand
was clearly
on Jesus
and yet
it was God's will
not that he would
find favor
with Herod
or the Sanhedrin
or the temple priests
or Pilate
or the soldiers
but that he would
die.
That was God's
will for his life.
He had perfect favor
but God's will
wasn't that he would be
living the hashtag
blessed life
but that he would die.
And this is where
we can reconcile
these two things.
How can we
on one hand
know that the hand
of the Lord
is upon us
and yet struggle
through life
with very real
lows
and really
long valleys.
How do we
reconcile that?
We look to Christ.
On the cross
Jesus
dies
on our behalf
according to God's will.
He suffers
before that
in a gruesome way
and in the end
he is forsaken
by his father
so that
the result
that we could be
blessed.
Whether or not
we experience
incredible blessings
in this life
or not
but that we will know
blessings for eternity
that we will have
the hand of the Lord
upon us forever
in fact to be
in his very presence.
this is
the real
blessed life.
So for you
and I
as we engage
in God's word
and we
we look to him
for our salvation
and we
we
we trust
that he will
bless us
in the ways
we need
to be blessed
in this life
that ultimately
the blessing
is already given
that we know
that we will be
with him
for eternity
that Christ's
own favor
perfect favor
of God
that God's
own hand
rests
upon us
that was resting
upon Christ.
Jesus
does God's will
perfectly
and we'll see
later on
that
that God's will
is really
again
like I said
that's
that's the real bit
in all of this.
Ezra
in chapter 8
this was a part
of the section
of the reading
but I focused
on chapter 7
in chapter 8
Ezra
he declines
an armored
guard
to go with him
from Babylonia
from Babylon
back to Jerusalem.
He has women
he has children
he has a ton
of gold
all the temple
utensils
and gold
and silver
I mean he was
a sitting duck
900 to 1000 miles
4 plus months
it's something like
10 miles a day
in the desert
and in the wilderness
and he says
I'm actually not
going to take
the armored guard
because
if God's hand
is on me
then it's
it's on me
all the way
okay
very noble thing
and God delivers them
it's a fantastic thing
in Nehemiah
it's a similar situation
and Nehemiah's like
yeah give me that guard
yeah I want that guard
I need that guard
to go with me
and somehow
that was also
God's will
so it's not
simply that
we can
always
take from
scripture
this carbon copy
of what to do
sometimes
scripture
prescribes
what we are to do
other times
it just describes
what's happening here
but the principle
behind it is
this
what is God's will
what is it
he has laid it
open in
holy scripture
and there's a lot
of aspects
to God's will
but the meat
and potatoes
of God's will
is that he desires
us
to be with him
and he has made a way
in Christ Jesus
so friends
let us know
the hand of the Lord
being upon us
let us know
the favor of God
whatever comes
this week
okay
good or bad
whatever comes
this week
let us know
that the favor
of the Lord
is upon us
the favor of the Lord
and that we will
live the blessed life
for eternity
let's pray
Father in heaven
we thank you
that we have
these fantastic examples
of how your people
engaged with you
and your word
throughout the generations
Lord we thank you
for Ezra
we thank you
for his faith
we thank you
for his diligence
for his heart
to reestablish
the
your word
amongst
your people
Lord
may your word
never depart
from us
help us
to be students
of it
in such a
life of distractions
and options
where finding
a quiet
10 minutes here
or 20 minutes there
seems like
an impossibility
Lord
help us
to help ourselves
Lord
give us the strength
we need
to do the things
you called us
to do
but Lord
more than
anything else
open our eyes
to the reality
of what your son
has done
on the cross
of Calvary
for us
that the hand
of favor
for all those
who have put
their faith
in him
it rests
upon us
and Lord
let us live
in that reality
we pray
in Christ's
mighty name
Amen
in heaven