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Showing posts from October, 2009

Not for Themselves

“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we 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.’” -Ezra 8:22 Here in this situation Ezra was a bit ashamed to ask for the king for protection, so what he did was he asked the people to fast and pray to God for Him to be their protection. Their purpose was not for them to be safe, but their journey was necessary for the temple to be built and for God to be praised. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, told the to go and build back in Jerusalem, and he sent them off in the name of God. He sort of recognized that God was their God. So going out and asking for the kings protection did not seem like a viable option. The name of the Lord needed to be praised. Ezra knew that. What is most interesting here is that Ezra was not doing this to proclaim his name or make himself famous, he was doing all this in t