The Formula For Success

“The king gave Ezra everything he asked for because the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him.” (Ezra 7:6)

Food For Thought: Let me first of all clear a couple of things up about the title I chose for today’s blog because I don’t want to mislead you. To begin with, there is no formula. To be sure, in life there are certain causes that predictably lead to certain effects, but in the overall scheme of things, securing Divine favor will never be the result of “techniquing” God. So rather than using the word “formula”, let me choose the word “lifestyle”. I’m talking about a lifestyle that leads to success.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me challenge my choice of the word “success”. I don’t like that either. Oh, I like success, but I think it is a term that has been twisted and turned and used for so many desired outcomes in life that I’m not sure are biblical, or at least what ought to be the most important things in life.

In no uncertain terms, God desires to give his people success — Joshua 1:8ff is pretty clear about that. But in our culture, we’ve defined success in terms of wealth, power, position, comfort, etc. Not that any of those are bad, but God’s success is something more. Success in God’s economy is to do God’s will in God’s way to see God-ordained results. That’s called “blessing”. Or to use Ezra’s words, it is a lifestyle that invokes the “Gracious hand of God” to upon us. By the way, that phrase becomes a theme for Ezra—it’s used three more times in chapter 7 (verses 6,9,28), again in chapter 8:18, and it is used thematically throughout the next book, Nehemiah, Ezra’s buddy.

So now that I’ve talked myself out of the title, let me give you a new one—a better one. Let’s try this one on for size:

How To Live A Lifestyle of Blessing

What can we do to live the kind of life where the gracious hand of God is upon us, a lifestyle where we live under the uncommon blessings of the Lord our God? Ezra provides the key in chapter 7. Let give it to you in its context:

“As Ezra returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the Lord’s Temple, the Persian king, King Artaxerxes, gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him. After the long and dangerous journey, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, for the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him. This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel. (Ezra 7:6, 8-10)

Ezra himself gives us the key to the gracious outpouring of God’s favor upon his life and his efforts, and I know of no more simple “formula”, if you will, than this:

One, he studied the Law of God. In other words, he immersed himself in God’s self-revelation—the Law of God. Ezra got to know God—who he is, what he wants, what his plans are, how man is to go about fulfilling God’s plans—in the only way getting to know God in that kind of intimate detail is possible: Through a thorough immersion in God’s Holy Word—the Bible.

Now understand, that kind of immersion does not imply or allow for some formulaic approach. It takes time, effort and consistency, i.e., a lifestyle. Ezra became a man of the Word. And that same lifestyle choice is available to you and me. If we want to live a lifestyle of Divine blessings, we must start by getting to know God intimately, and that cannot be done apart from immersing our lives in the Word of God.

Second, Ezra obeyed the Law of God. If you have learning without obedience, all you end up with a Biblical intellectualism. You get knowledge without obedience, which proves that the knowledge you’ve gained is not true Biblical knowledge. Knowledge is incomplete without obedience. In the spiritual realm, knowledge alone only leads to self-deception, spiritual elitism and moribund religiosity—the kind of religious environment Jesus came up against when he launched his ministry among the Jews.

Obedience fertilizes Biblical knowledge, producing the conditions for true spirituality. Obedience catalyzes learning into loving. Obedience puts God as the object, and keeps knowledge as the means and not the end. Obedience pleases God and releases God’s favor upon the obedient. Ezra learned and obeyed; both were a lifestyle. And that same lifestyle that produces blessing awaits us: Immersion in and obedience to the Word of God.

Third, Ezra taught the Law of God. He didn’t just immerse himself in God’s revelation for his own intellectual and spiritual benefit. He didn’t just obey God’s Word to satisfy his need of personal piety, and to incur Divine favor. That would have been spiritually selfish.

He sought to influence others. He shared the wealth of the Word, so to speak, in order that his fellow Jews could enter into the same kind of intimacy with God that he experienced. Teaching what you know—influencing others—completes the cycle and brings the favor of God.

Immersion + Obedience + Influence = Favor

Immersion into God’s Word plus obedience to God’s Word plus influencing others to know and obey God’s Word produces Divine favor. What Ezra did, we can do: Study the Word of God as a lifestyle. Obey the Word of God as a lifestyle. Teach others, by word and by example, the Word of God—influence them to know and obey it too.

That is how to live a lifestyle of blessing. Do that, and one day in your story these words can be written:

“The gracious hand of the Lord God was on (insert your name). This was because (insert your name) had determined to study and obey God’s Word and to teach those it to others.”

Prayer: Lord, as Ezra did, I re-dedicate myself to studying your Word, obeying your Word, and influencing others to study and obey your Word. I will leave the rest up to you. But I do look forward to your gracious hand being upon my life.

One More Thing… “The devil is not afraid of the Bible that has dust on it.” — James McCosh