Ezra 8:1-36

Reference:  v.22  I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” (NIV Bible)

Explore:  It’s quite easy to say how faithful God is, but it can be quite challenging putting that in to practice.  When we started to build a new congregation at the beginning of 2008 I really felt it was where God wanted me to be.  I had prayed about the decision, spoken to many trusted friends, and while I never received a neon sign telling me exactly what to do, I did believe that I would be able to use my God-given gifts in this area.  And so I told all my friends and family that this was the change that I felt God was leading me to.  Once we began forming the new congregation we hit some challenges.  I encountered loneliness, impatience and opposition.  What a surprise that stepping out in faith was difficult!  But it wasn’t just emotionally challenging, but also spiritually challenging.  If I had believed that this is where God wanted me to be then I needed to have a faith that endured all hardships and believed that God would be faithful to me.  It had been easy to say that God was faithful in giving me direction but once I took that new path I had to walk the talk and believe that God would stay faithful through it all.

Application:  When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem they had a long journey to take.  They knew that God was faithful to them but when that meant protecting them from enemies then it was challenging for them not to rely on the strong men from their place of exile.  We will often encounter challenges in our life and Jesus promised us that God would never leave us or forsake us.  It’s great to know that but when challenges hit we need to be willing to live in that promise and not let go of God.

Prayer:  Lord, sometimes it’s difficult to see where you are in our lives.  May we be reminded of Your faithfulness and never let go of You.  Amen.

How have your experienced God’s faithfulness lately?