Bible Passage: “[T]his 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.” (Ezra 7:6)
Scripture Reading: Ezra 7:1-28
The moment is here: It’s the day of the big presentation, or the night of the performance, or time to ask the question, or to close the deal.
Are you ready? How do you know?
What do you do to prepare for your responsibilities? What if you don’t know what your responsibilities are? How do you prepare for the unknown?
If we don’t know what is coming, men, what are we preparing for? And, equally important, how are we preparing?
When there is no particular task on the horizon, no role into which our energies and attentions need to be directed, there is a sense in which we are preparing for what could be. We are preparing for the “what-if” of life, the anything and everything.
The way we prepare for that is by becoming—becoming the future version of ourselves who is ready for the task that will inevitably knock on our doors.
What does that entail?
The introduction and description of the priest Ezra gives us something from which men can learn.
Ezra doesn’t enter the narrative of the book that bears his name until chapter 7. In verse 6, he is described as “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.”
It doesn’t take a lot of intuition to figure out where this is going and what is important (from Ezra’s perspective). Before God called him to this task, Ezra was a student of the Law of Moses. He knew the Scriptures of Israel—the defining stories and instructions in the Torah.
The connection here is obvious. The description of Ezra as knowing the Law of Moses precedes his being chosen for the task of going to Jerusalem to aid in the restoration of the Temple. He spent his time in the Scriptures that God gave. This is what qualified him for the assignment and, likely, what led to the hand of the Lord being on him.
When men spend time getting to know God and His story, we cannot help but draw near to God, and He, in turn, draws near to us.
This is what transforms us into the kind of man who is ready for the next assignment that comes our way.
Prayer: Lord God, You know the tasks and assignments ahead of me. Help me prepare for them well by investing in the things that matter today. Amen.
Reflection: How much time do you spend reading or listening to God’s story? Commit this week to spending ten more minutes each day in the Word, and watch what happens!
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