“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way.  After all, we had told the king, ‘Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandoned him.’  So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.”  (Ezra 8:22-23)

Food For Thought:  Some things that we pass off as faith is mere foolishness, and some of what seems foolish is truly risky faith.  Sometimes is requires real discernment to know the difference.  In this case, it might have appeared foolish for Ezra not to seek the kings protection for the long journey from Babylon to Jerusalem.  After all, they had the king’s permission to go, and they were carrying tons of gold and silver, literally.

But Ezra had bragged on God—on his ability to protect the righteous.  Now if he ask for the king’s protection, in Ezra’s mind, this would have been a lack of faith and it would have brought disrepute to the name of God.  This was a case where Ezra put himself, and the people he was leading, out there in the rare air of risky faith, where if God didn’t show up and do what only God could do, they would be in deep weeds.

It was a fine line that Ezra walked, but being a man who was deeply in touch with God, committed to knowing and obeying God’s Word, and living it out as an example so he might influence others to deeper faith, Ezra’s act of courageous faith was a no-brainer.  Having been led by the Spirit, Ezra made the decision, then called the people to fasting and pray so that God’s hand would be with them.  Then they stepped out in faith.

And look what happened:  God heard their prayers!  God granted them what they asked for.  God did what only God could do.  God got the credit and Ezra got a great testimony.

And thus it is so with all the great faith stories of the Bible:  Someone takes a bold step of faith; God does what only God can do; a great testimony is born.

Perhaps a great testimony of faith is waiting to be born in your life!  Be open to the possibility.  Let Ezra’s life—his commitment to the Word, his obedience, his prayer, his faith—inspire and guide you to step out into the rare air of risky faith where God shows up and does the impossible.

Take the risk and share Christ with that person you work with…give that major financial gift that doesn’t make sense a part from obedience to God’s voice….make that bold career move that will allow you to align yourself for ministry usefulness…choose that college major that scares you, but deep inside you sense that’s what God wants for you.

Take that step and watch what God does….and watch history get made!

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

“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