Prepare Your Heart During the Times of Uncertainty

Ezra 7:6:  "Ezra came up from Babylon.  He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given.  The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him."

The Jewish priest, Ezra, lived during a time when many of the Israelites had been in captivity to foreign nations for over 100 years.  Even though God was working His plan of redemption and restoration for His people, it still was a time of difficulty and despondency, for the Jews had been in servitude for many years and many miles from their promised land from God.  To be sure, God had moved the heart of King Cyrus of Persia (ca. 538bc) to make proclamations for the Jewish people to rebuild the temple, but the implementation of this decree was not without difficulty.  Even when the Jews arrived in Jerusalem and built the foundation for the House of God, the discouragement of it not being as impressive as Solomon's Temple and the pressures of the pagans around them, thwarting the constructive efforts led to a halting of the building for over a decade.

Yet even in the midst of such uncertain times, we find that Ezra was pouring his heart and mind over the sacred Scriptures of God.  He did not permit the circumstances around him to bring such discouragement that he gave up on preparing his heart for God's Word to him and his people.  Ezra knew that God would orchestrate His plans and purposes in His own timing, and all that Ezra needed to do was be prepared when God desired to use Him.  And even though Ezra would not come to Jerusalem for over 50 years after the temple was completed, when he did arrive, the "hand of the LORD his God was on him" (Ezra 7:6).   And we see in Ezra 7:10 that God's favor was on the priest because Ezra "devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD."  This was not mere intellectual knowledge of God's expressed will; rather, this was full observance/obedience of what God wanted Ezra and the people to do to bring glory to God.  And at just the right time (in God's timing), God would bring Ezra back to Jerusalem so that he could lead the people in a spiritual revival.  In Nehemiah 8, we find that Ezra opened the Scriptures before the people and read from them, and he "praise the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, 'Amen! Amen!'" (Nehemiah 8:5-6).   Later we find in this chapter that the time of celebration was greater than anything experienced since the time of Joshua, who lived 1000 years before.  Truly it was a spectacular experience.

This is a very important word for us, for though we have not experienced the events that Ezra and the Jewish people experienced during that time, we too encounter difficult times . . . when we are uncertain as to why we are facing what we are going through and we wonder where God is in the midst of our difficulties.   We need to be inspired from the reading of this text, for we know that God is never absent from us when we are facing troublesome times, and He desires for us to prepare our hearts by reading His Word of instruction and inspiration.  We need to know that at just the right time, God will use our preparedness to orchestrate something wonderful for His glory, even though we don't know why we are going through our "valley" and we can't see how He can use such an experience for His plans and purposes.  The worst thing we can do is capitulate to our difficult circumstances and fail to strengthen our hearts through intimate communion with God; for to follow such a path might impede God's using us for something marvelous.

So press on!  Continue preparing your hearts and minds . . . knowing that your "labor in the Lord is not in vain" (I Corinthians 15:58).