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. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him." So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23
There are so many applications to this passage!
We need to humble ourselves, acknowledging our weaknesses, our inability to do things without the help of God. We need to be dependent on God alone for protection. We need to have faith that God is in control. We need to pray first and then step out in faith, believing that God is faithful and in control of each and every situation.
We also cannot take God's promises for granted. We cannot pray glibly and treat God like a genie or fast food takeout.
I love this whole passage today - Ezra consistently gives God the praise for everything. I love 7:27 Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king's heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way
And here's another one
7:28b Because the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
And another
7:6b The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.
Ezra had done a lot of dedicated studying, he was determined to obey the law, he taught others - but he did not credit a single thing to himself - he gave all the glory to God.
John Piper has also applied this passage to fasting for the unborn - you can see his sermon here.
Tomorrow's passage: Ezra 9-10, Nehemiah 1-2
1 comment:
You know what I find so interesting about all these post-exilic prophets? They were LISTENED TO!
Haggai 1:12b says, "...and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, BECAUSE the Lord their God had sent him."
That never made them listen to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah! And yet here, it seems their attitude is a little different and they obviously have some desire to do the right thing. Possibly only to avoid another stint in captivity, but at least now they're respecting the word of the prophets.
I loved these verses in Ezra, too. I found he could so easily have been addressing our culture and our generation.
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