Day 144 - Ezra 8-10

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 144 - Ezra 8-10 (Fast and Pray)
(To View Past Posts Click: http:/tonyvicreyes1-yearbible.blogspot.com/ )

"Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.  For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him."  So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer."  (Ezra 8:21-23) 

Ezra had been called by God to lead the Jews from the captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the temple with the full support of the king and his entire domain.  In fact, the total offering of the king and his officials and all the Jewish people for the work of building the house of God amounted to 24 tons of silver, 7,500 pounds of silver utensils, 7,500 pounds of gold, 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins, and 2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.  

Ezra was in a difficult spot.  He and his caravan of Jews returning to Jerusalem had to travel 900 miles, the same distance between Philadelphia and Orlando, along with little children and the elderly and with all their flock and possessions and the valuable offering I mentioned above.  They had to do that long trip by foot and through perilous roads strewn with bandits and enemies of the Jews. 

As we read from our text above, Ezra was ashamed to request protection from the king because he had told him that "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him."  So he did what he knew he must, he led the people to fast and pray and God answered their prayers.

Last week, I met a brother in the Lord who was born and raised here in New Jersey and who is planning on going to the refugee camps in Jordan along the border of Syria in order to serve the people there - all Muslims.  I am so blessed by the courage and faith of my new friend.  I know that the reason why he is not afraid to go to that dangerous place with a very real possibility of dying or being kidnapped by ISIS is because like Ezra, he knows that God will protect him.

You and I will likely never be called to go to a place where we could be killed but we all daily face trials and problems for which we need to seek the Lord's help.  I pray that we will do as Ezra had done and entreat God with fasting and prayer.