The Hand of God
Ezra: Rebuilding the Foundation • Sermon • Submitted
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So far, our study of Ezra has brought out some challenges for us.
We have seen how God is able to do the impossible, and we have seen how he calls us back to himself in worship.
We have seen that our worship can and should include our hard emotions and that when we follow God, we will encounter roadblocks.
We have seen for the last two weeks that God will use his word to help us overcome those roadblocks, so we must be devoted to studying and knowing our Bibles.
This morning, we are going to build on that idea as we look at Ezra and the exiles’ return to Jerusalem.
There is a phrase that Ezra repeats at least 5 different times in chapters 7-8, and it is where I want us to focus this morning.
In Ezra’s life, we see that as he followed God’s plan, he acknowledged that God’s gracious hand was on him.
In fact, if you catch nothing else from this morning’s message, I want you to see that to have God’s gracious hand, you must follow his plan.
We will talk about two indicators that we are walking in God’s plan from this account in Ezra.
Because it is a little long, I am not going to read the whole thing. Let me tell you the story.
This is the story from God’s Word:
Ezra was a servant of King Artaxerxes, one of the Persian kings. They lived in Babylon, and in the course of time, God put it in Artaxerxes’ heart to send Ezra back to Jerusalem to teach the law to God’s people and make sure the temple and sacrifices were like they needed to be. The journey went quickly and smoothly because, as Ezra said, “the hand of the Lord his God was on him.” (7:6)
Artaxerxes sent a letter with Ezra that explained where he was going and why. It also commanded the other officials over those areas that they were to give Ezra anything he needed for the temple and the sacrifices. The king even gave Ezra authority to teach God’s law and hold people accountable to it, even if it meant putting someone to death. Giving him such favor with the king was something only God could do, which is why Ezra praised God for what Artaxerxes was giving them. He had the courage he needed to do the work, as he says, “because I was strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God.” (7:28)
He gathered together the priests to go back, but as they searched through who was returning, they realized they didn’t have any Levites, who were the priests’ helpers. They sent men to see if they could get some Levites to come with him, and they found some very capable men. Why? Because, as Ezra says, “the gracious hand of our God was on us…”(8:18)
Jerusalem is a long way away from Babylon, and the roads between the two were filled with dangerous bandits and criminals. Ezra could have asked the king to send a security detail with him but he didn’t. Instead, he and the other returnees fasted and prayed and sought God’s face to protect them. Why? Because he had already told the king, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his fierce anger is against all who abandon him” (8:22).
God answered their prayer and they made incredibly good time. They arrived in Jerusalem safely and without incident. Ezra was clear about why they made it safely. That’s why he says again, “The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. (, ESV)
Do you want God to have his hand on you like he did Ezra? Then let’s look to see how we can know if we are walking in his plan.
The first indicator that Ezra was following God’s plan was that he was quick to...
1) Give him credit.
1) Give him credit.
Ezra couldn’t help but give God the credit for what he had done.
Nowhere do we see Ezra saying, “Because I had been such a great servant to the king, he trusted me to take this journey,” or, “Because I had such great situational awareness, we never fell into an ambush,” or, “We had the leaders we needed because of my incredible managerial skill.”
No, every single time we see God at work in the journey back to Jerusalem, Ezra is saying, “All of this was because the hand of our God was with us.”
Look at how he thanked God for working in the king’s heart. Look at 7:27-28.
Now flip over to 8:31 - The translation we are using doesn’t show this as clearly, but here is a more literal rendering:
We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. We were strengthened by our God, and he kept us from the grasp of the enemy and from ambush along the way.
Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.
It was the hand of their God who delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
This is a great time for us to take stock of our own lives: how do you handle success?
Are you crushing it in all your classes this semester? Why? Is it because you are so sharp and have studied so hard? Take it a step further: who gave you the brain to think like that? Who opened the door for you to live where you do so you could go to school where you are?
Ultimately, doesn’t God get the credit for that?
Is your marriage in a good place, or are your kids turning out great? Then who did that? The God who works to strengthen relationships, protect us from harm, and equip us to fight when difficult days come?
You can apply this to any area: health, finances, jobs, relationships.
In fact, here’s what James reminds us:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Who has enabled our church to grow this year? Who has helped people come to walk with Christ through baptism and honor him through obedience?
It is God alone who deserves the credit.
Ezra knew that everything that had made the journey easier was the result of the hand of God on his life.
Look at how he thanked God for working in the king’s heart. Look at 7:27-28.
Maybe you have lost sight of that, so today, you need to look back over the last week and see where God’s hand was working.
Did anyone in here put into practice what we talked about last week in studying God’s word? If so, did you see something in there that you needed to change? Remember, that is God speaking to you.
Do you have food in your pantry today? Then God has given you your daily bread.
Are you still breathing? Then God is still sustaining your life.
Ezra recognized that the gracious hand of God was on him as he carried out God’s plan to teach his people who he was and what he expected.
For Ezra, God’s hand worked in great ways to keep them safe, provide them everything they needed, and get them to Jerusalem.
What about when it doesn’t go like that?
What do you do when it feels like you are having to walk uphill through mud to accomplish anything, and everything you touch seems to be breaking?
Two thoughts: the hand of God is used in other parts of the Bible to describe the weight of God’s discipline when his people get off track.
At one point in his life, King David, who was one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history, had sinned and refused to ask for forgiveness. Here’s how he described it:
When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat. Selah
It could be that some of the trouble you are facing is because you aren’t living out God’s plan and are trying to make it on your own.
In that case, his hand is on you to show you that you are off track and draw you back to himself.
We saw that in Haggai’s prophecy two weeks ago, didn’t we? Because God’s people weren’t rebuilding the temple, they couldn’t get ahead, their crops failed, and nothing seemed to work.
God doesn’t do this to make us squirm or because he likes hurting people.
In fact, the most loving thing he can do is help you see that there is a problem!
So, if you seem to keep coming to a dead end at every turn, then you should make sure that there isn’t an area where you aren’t following him closely.
Sometimes, though, you search your heart and don’t see any areas where you are majorly off track.
We will never be perfect in this life, but you don’t see any parts of your life where you are consciously and willingly walking out of step with God.
What about those moments when it doesn’t seem like things are going right?
Are you willing to glorify God in those moments, crediting him with sustaining you in the confusing, difficult times as well?
We see that clearly in Job, don’t we?
Job was a man who loved God and served him faithfully, and yet in a matter of moments, all his children were killed and his servants and livestock were killed or stolen.
Eventually, even his health was taken. Here was what happened next:
His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.
In that moment, Job was willing to acknowledge that sometimes God hand leads us through difficult days.
Are you? Is your faith in God strong enough to give him credit for the ways you are doing well, even in the midst of the ups and down.
Maybe this afternoon, you need to sit down and write out a list of all the things God has done for you.
Every gift, which includes life and food and health and knowledge and education and clothes and everything else we have and are.
Take time to thank God for it, and give him credit for how he is working in the midst of it.
You may not feel it yet, but there are times when you have to do the right thing before you feel it. That doesn’t make you a hypocrite, it makes you obedient.
You can say, “God, I’m not fully there yet, and I am still confused and I hurt, but I thank you for putting your hand on my life in this way.”
This isn’t some kind of Pollyanna, rose-tinted blind optimism; it is an expression of the faith and belief that God truly is good and truly is worth everything you have and are.
Ezra was quick to give God credit, recognizing that God’s hand was on him.
If we are going to have his hand on us, then we are going to do the same.
Giving God the credit will happen much more naturally if we also follow Ezra’s example in...
2) Put God’s glory first.
2) Put God’s glory first.
Last week, we saw that Ezra had devoted his heart to studying God’s word, so we know that he was personally devoted to seeking God.
We see that continue this week again.
Look at 8:21-23...
I love the honesty in this section.
As we mentioned earlier, it would have been completely normal for them to ask the king to send an armed guard with them to protect the returning exiles.
They were not only carrying everything they owned, 8:26 tells us they were carrying 24 tons of gold and silver that would have made them easy targets for an ambush.
Ezra was more concerned about God’s name than their safety, though.
He had already told the king that the one true God was with him and was able to protect him, so asking the king for a security detail would have been a lack of faith for him.
Don’t get me wrong, here: I am not telling you to go home and leave all your doors unlocked because God is going to protect you.
We take measures here at church to make sure that our facility is secure and that you are safe while you are here to worship.
This passage isn’t saying that you should never do anything to protect yourself; instead, it is showing us to have a greater concern for God’s name than for anything else.
How did Ezra respond? By simply hoping that things would go okay?
No; he delayed the start of the trip so they could earnestly seek God’s face.
They spent time fasting and praying that God would protect them for his name’s sake.
He put his plans on hold to make sure he was in the right place and posture for God to bless his trip.
What did God do in response? Like we said, they
Some of you might pray before you leave for a trip, but let me ask you, what are you praying for?
Are you simply praying that God would keep you safe because you want to make it to where you are going for vacation, or are you asking God to keep you safe so you can honor him and his name?
Think about how God commanded us to act through Paul. He was dealing with issues that may not be clearly spelled out in Scripture, about whether or not you could eat or drink food that had been offered to idols.
When he summarized it, he said:
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And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
Do everything you do so that God’s name will have more weight in your life and the lives of others.
That’s the primary idea behind glory: weight.
Heavy things shape the objects around them, don’t they? Try dropping a cinder block on your bare foot and see if it changes shape!
Think about what heavy things do; they change their surroundings and even make them look like
Drive your car through your rain-soaked yard today and see if the weight of the car doesn’t change the way your yard looks.
Putting God’s glory first is going to change the way your life works.
Ezra knew that following God, having his hand on you, changed priorities.
Instead of setting out right away, he stops and has all the people seek God’s face and favor on their trip.
Are you going to do the same? If you want God’s hand on your life, you have to make sure you are putting his glory first in every part of it.
Think about how you make decisions of what you are going to do in a given day. How much weight to you give to what God may want to accomplish?
When you are looking up classes for next term, have you stopped to think about what God may want to do in teaching you what you will learn in those courses?
What is your automatic response when you get a bonus at work, or how do you look at disciplining your kids?
Is everything you do for God’s glory or yours?
This doesn’t mean that God is going to call you to quit your job and spend every waking hour at the church. It doesn’t mean you are going to give every penny you make to God’s work.
However, it shifts the underlying reason why you do what you do.
I was at a man’s house yesterday who is in his 70s and is a part of another church in our area. He went into business for himself many years ago, and at the outset, he determined that he would not do any marketing beyond word of mouth.
He said he did that because he knew that if he grew his business through marketing, for him, he would take the credit and believe he had done it.
However, if he succeeded in his field through word of mouth, it could only be because God was in it.
God worked in that man’s business and he is now retired. He was able to use the resources he made to build a home for his family, which he intentionally built large enough to host a small group in his home.
Now, he has resources to invest in the kingdom and is able to help ministries do the work God has called them to do.
Why? Because the gracious hand of his God was on him, and as he sought to give God the credit, putting his glory first, God honored that.
Again, I hesitate to use that example to a degree because I don’t want you walking out of here thinking that there is something wrong with advertising your business or that every plan you have is going to work out and you’re going to retire with a big retirement account and a nice house.
I am saying, though, that if you surrender your degree or your career or your family to Christ, putting him first, then his hand will lead, guide, and enable you to do more than you could imagine.
In fact, I know the greatest way God places his hand on our lives.
You can’t get to heaven because you said, “Praise the Lord” after every sentence or because you “let go and let God”.
It isn’t in making us rich or famous or healthy or with lasting, fulfilling relationships, although he may do those things.
We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory,
It is by taking our sin upon himself to rescue us.
You and I had sinned, had turned our backs on the God who made us to bring us glory.
Because of that, we deserve to die and spend eternity separated from him.
However, because he is a gracious God, he took our sin and put it on his son:
But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
God the Father laid his hand of judgment on the God the Son, who paid for our sin on the cross.
He proved that he was able to pay completely for our sin by rising from the dead after three days, and now, he is calling us to join him in his plan to redeem the world.
Now, he offers us a life of purpose and joy as we seek him first and
When we seek his glory first, we are honoring the sacrifice he made. When we acknowledge him and give him the credit is due, we honor the incredible king who loved us so much to die for us.
If you will turn from trying to live life for yourself and surrender to let Jesus save you, guide you, and lead you, then he will!
Our salvation is like what God accomplished in and through Ezra: It wasn’t Ezra’s goodness that moved the heart of the king, it was God’s gracious hand on his life that gave him favor. It wasn’t Ezra’s own wisdom and prowess that got them safely to Jerusalem, it was God’s grace in protecting them.
In the same way, it isn’t our wisdom or our strength or our goodness that saves; it is the hand of our gracious God that draws us to himself and pulls us out of our old way of life and into his.