Take Courage: The Posture of the Wise

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, 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 BOOK OF EZRA

Ezra is a servant of God who often does not receive proper recognition by us.

Ezra...

is a descendant of Hilkiah ()

Hilkiah is the high priest who found a copy of the law during the reign of Josiah ()

As a priest Ezra was unable to serve during the captivity, but he gave his time to a study of the Word of God. - he was, “a ready scribe in the law of Moses.” ()

Ezra was a great revivalist and reformer.

The revival began with the reading of the Word of God by Ezra (Nehemiah 8).

Some have accredited Ezra as the writer of 1 &2 Chronicles and of which exalts the Word of God.

Ezra organized the synagogue, founded the order of scribes, helped settle the canon of scripture and arranged the Psalms.

The theme and key phrase of Ezra continues to reinforce and deepen the understanding of what we have been studying the past couple weeks and learning from 1&2 Chronicles.

THEME

THE WORD OF THE LORD.

There are 11 direct references to “The Word of the Lord”

1:1; 3:2; 6:14, 18; 7:6, 10,14,26; 9:4; 10:3,5

Specifically speaking, The Word of God is addressed in affirming its place in the total life of God’s people - religious, social, business, and political.

You recall that Solomon brought pleasure to the Lord when his request was for wisdom in fulfilling the Word of God spoke to His father. You cannot separate the Word of God from wisdom nor true wisdom from the Word of God. In this book we see that applies to all of life. We also recall that wisdom cannot be separated from knowledge and knowledge from the fear of the Lord. Well that brings us to the key phrase:

KEY PHRASE

“TREMBLED AT THE WORDS OF GOD OF ISRAEL” (; also see 10:3)

“We already have seen that the Babylonian captivity did not bring the Jews to national repentance, and so lead to national restoration. As the reading of Ezral will disclose, when Cyrus, king of Persia, gave permission to the captives to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, scarcely 50,000 availed themselves of the privilege, a considerable portion of whom were priests and Levites of the humbler and poorer class” -Dr. James M. Gray

TRAIN OF THOUGHT

WORD OF GOD

WISDOM

COURAGE

REVIVAL

REFORM

SINOPSIS

Godly wisdom breeds courage and confidence. It brings one to place themselves under the God whom they have been created to abide in. Thus this wisdom, no matter your current situation gives a courage to worship God through how you live and what you establish your life upon. It does this by the power of the Word of God, which is the power to revive - to bring to life - and to reform - to change from worse to better.

Thus, what we are talking about in general is the wisdom and courage (in all areas of life) to go from a certain dead end - from a immovable position - to gain the strength and insight not just to move position, but to make it to a better place a better dwelling.

Our goal this morning is to become confident in God and take courage in the reality that God is the God who revives and reforms every area of life. That God is working to lead us out of our own depravity and captivity back to the proper place of worship, trust and abiding in Him in all of life.

I will address 5 points in Ezra to affirm this:

1. THE WORD OF GOD

We have already established that the Word of God is essential in Ezra. The phrase “the Word of God” is flagged in our minds from our prior study of Solomon. To fear God - to humbly come to Him for direction, to gain knowledge from God and to seek to know it’s application in your life and thus live by it is wisdom. It is also power and courage.

Ezra was a priest, yet stuck in captivity he could not do what would be thought of as his priestly duty. So he studied the Word of God. He made himself a ready scribe.

Ezra 7:5–6 ESV

son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— 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 all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Often in life we focus on how things ought to be and can get stuck in a day dream of a different time in life or a venture to try and fix them ourselves. Ezra sought God, He studied to be a ready scribe. In captivity, He trusted God.

Wisdom seeks to know God to be prepared for whatever work He is to do. It does not get lost in personal dream or ambitions that fluctuate with season and circumstance but rather it has one constant desire - God - do according to Your Word. Thus it dwells in His Word, it is made ready in His Word, it breaths out the Word that God has breathed in.

The point is this -

Our lives and our situation belong to God. Thus the study of the Word displays to us the goodness and victory of the God that they belong to. The posture of worship is God revive me, God reform me, God prepare me to do according to your Word, to live in line with your will.

2. GOD IS AT WORK (EVEN IN A PAGAN LAND)

The child of God can give themselves to being made ready by the Word of God, knowing that God Himself is at work to fulfill His plans. This truth stands true even when God’s people dwell in the land and in the captivity of a pagan King.

Ezra 1:1 ESV

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

This is a reality that far to often goes unrealized by Christians who are fearful or lost in despair given a current world situation. God works in such a way that he stirrs the hearts and minds of men to accomplish His spoken word. That Ezra learned and made himself ready in the law of Moses is to say that he learned how to live. He learned how God would have his people live. He did not seek to learn how Cyrus would want him to live or how to be accomplished in Persian. Rather he became accomplished in the Word of God and God took care of the rest. Meaning the purpose, the life, the calling the ministry and accomplishments of Ezra were realized in God, in the timing of God as Ezra dwelt in Him.

Can the same be said for us? How often do we think of wisdom as defining our purpose, planning our life, choosing our ministry and setting our targeted accomplishments as the first step. If we would pause to think of it we would recognize the arrogance. We would also recognize how needlessly complex we make our lives. Better spent were the shepherding days of David than the college days of us. Better is a day with the Lord than a thousand of our own strivings.

When we devote ourselves to seeking God, we do so knowing that God is at work all around us. Listen we will go into great debt trusting an earthly institution to work to set us upon a proper path for our life and thus we will devote years of our life abiding in that school or place of training.

Yet we hesitate to fully devote a day of our lives to the God who has given His son, the God who has paid in full that we might abide in Him and be taught and trained by Him in how to live. If we think we can trust the success of such an earthly institution then how much more ought we trust that He who created us will be working all around us as He works within us to mature into those who will accomplish His good and perfect will.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Ezra 7:5–6 ESV

3. GOD CAUSES HUMAN LABOR TO SUCCEED

Whether it is laboring in the Word of God, or laboring in the field that God has given, it is still God who causes labor to succeed. This is the courage of our labor.

Ezra 7:6 ESV

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 all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Ezra 7:28 ESV

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.

Ezra 7:27–28 ESV

Hear this: Ezra was a scribe made ready, then he was used by God to accomplish more than any of us could ever imagine. His preparation, his courage to walk in fulfillment of what he had been prepared for and his success in it was all at the hand of God.

Prepare me - Direct me - and grant me success. That should be our prayer. Prepare me - Direct me - and grant me success in accordance with Your Word and Your perfect Will.

4. TRUSTING GOD CAN BE HUMBLING

The same trusting which brings courage can also be humbling. The pathway by which God will lead us to success can often look different than the success we picture or crave. Nonetheless, the path of God remains the better path, the victory remains secure and humility proves a necessary trait of the minister of God. Humility also shows herself a sister trait to courage while pride proves to be of the cowardly.

Ezra 8:20–22 ESV

besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”

Ezra 8:21–22 ESV

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”

Ezra 8:21–23 ESV

Ezra 8:23–30 ESV

So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. I weighed out into their hand 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

The example here is that God’s provision was desired just not through the means of human help - especially not requesting it of the king. So Ezra humbled himself before God that he might find courage to walk in the provision of God.

5.

If I could put it this way, God’s greatest work or most beneficial to us isn’t always that off in the distance success that we so crave but rather the path that He puts us upon to ensure that we stay humble and dependent upon Him. It is that path that we so often fight against and yet so desperately need. As such, take courage, take joy in your humble circumstance and let it lead you to further implore your God for His guidance and provision.

EXORTATION

Trusting the Word of God can prove humbling. Yet that humility breeds courage and that courage guides us to victory. Yet, a faithless walk, a disregarding of the word of God in those crucial everyday areas and decisions which make up our lives can make us cowardly and bring us shame. Such is the case in . It is where the people of God fail to obey the command of God and intermarry. It is where they seek to be seen as the people of God while yet walking in stride with the world around them.

The reason that we began with the Word of God is because this is the law, the map by which we walk. Wisdom seeks to fear God - to humbly come to Him for direction, to gain knowledge from God and to seek to know it’s application in your life and thus live by it is wisdom. To walk according to such wisdom breeds courage and displays the power of God, while failure to breeds cowardliness and displays the futility of man.

Yet the truth is that we each have a portion of life in which we have married ourselves to the culture or world around us. We have forsaken the seeking of God - the commands of God - the wisdom of God in order to do it the way that we know, the way that we have deemed best and acceptable. Our heart in this should not be to accept this in our lives, but rather to seek revival and reform as Ezra does for the people of God. This is the wisdom of God.

Revival says I have walked the path of the dead but I seek the path of life.

Reform says, my own path that I have traveled is corrupt and disregards the teachings, the commands of my God. God Your way is better and I desire a better way.

The heart of revival, the heart of the reformer in hearing that the Word of God has been neglected by the people of God sounds as Ezra:

Ezra 9:3–10:5 ESV

As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.” While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.” Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

Ezra

Ezra 9:3

Take Note Of The Path: