I am on vacation this week.\u00a0 You have probably noticed more posting than normal.\u00a0 It is great to have the time to do this.\u00a0 Back to work next week however 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon-Sat for the next few weeks.\u00a0 Very happy to have a job; very thankful.<\/p>\n
I wonder as I have been reading through Ezra this week if we couldn’t title the book – “The Good Hand of Our God Upon Us.”<\/p>\n
The writings brim with God’s sovereign care for his people.<\/p>\n
So much provision was necessary for the trip back to Jerusalem to establish God’s work.\u00a0 Here Ezra looked around and saw there were no sons of Levi.\u00a0 But the good hand of his God was upon him and God directed his search to Sherebiah.<\/p>\n
(Ezra 8:18 ESV)\u00a0 And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18;<\/p>\n
Providence.
\nDo you believe in the providence of God?\u00a0 All things working toward God’s purpose, all the mess, all the complicated relationships between individuals and countries, all confusion and uncertainty, all the events of our lives, good and bad.\u00a0 God really does have a plan, but his plan is not to execute our plan no matter how much we claim it or demand it.\u00a0 Basically still believing Romans 8.28 when the bottom falls out of your life.<\/p>\n
We don’t see God’s providence and sovereignty unless we are bowed before him.\u00a0 Otherwise everything else, usually our personal agenda and perspective or that formed by the significant people in our lives, blurs reality.<\/p>\n
Ezra after assembling his group was now ready to leave but he had to face the danger of the road ahead.\u00a0 The king would have given him an armed escort.\u00a0 He would have provided whatever was necessary, but Ezra had bragged up the goodness and care of his God.<\/p>\n
So now it was time to trust and before trust comes humbling.\u00a0 You see, faith isn’t about being strong and victorious as we so often make it out to be.\u00a0 Faith is about trusting God, his power, his resources, his plan, his love.<\/p>\n
(Ezra 8:21-22 ESV)\u00a0 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.\u00a0 (22)\u00a0 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.”<\/p>\n
And God provided a safe journey.<\/p>\n
I guess it just keeps standing out to me as I read Ezra – the good hand of our God.\u00a0 So for all the “places” we can be, all the goals we can set, things to aspire to, it seems this is a pretty good one.\u00a0 Am I in a place where the good hand of God is upon me?<\/p>\n
Coaches talk about how they want to put their players in a position to win.\u00a0 So, Coach, have you put yourself in a position to win in God’s eyes.\u00a0 Remember as you look into the crowd, God is the one whose gaze you want to capture.\u00a0 Just as a basketball player scans the bleachers for his old coach or his mother or father or brother or best friend, because in spite of the thousands watching, that is who he is playing for.<\/p>\n
So who are we playing for?\u00a0 Who am I playing for?\u00a0 Who are you playing for?\u00a0 The one person whose gaze you want to capture as you scan the crowd, who is it in your life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am on vacation this week.\u00a0 You have probably noticed more posting than normal.\u00a0 It is great to have the time to do this.\u00a0 Back to work next week however 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon-Sat for the next few … Continue reading