Ezra 7:6 Ezra…was a ready scribe in the law of Moses
Over a hundred years ago, a man named James Sheldon wrote a book entitled In His Steps from which came a very piercing question, one that has been popularized in the last decades. The question is, “What would Jesus do?” That is a good question. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you knew exactly what God would want you to do in your life and the decisions you make today? What an ennobling and empowering thing that would be.
That is exactly what a man named Ezra had. He had God’s mind on the matters that faced him. Ezra was a man who by the authority of King Artaxerxes, the conqueror of the known world, helped lead the return of the Jewish exiles from captivity back to Jerusalem.
Doing this was not safe. There were risks. It was not the easy thing to do. Where Ezra had been was safe, a place of power. Where he was going was a place that had been conquered, but Ezra sought to know what God wanted him to do. We learn from him that we should make it our goal to know what God wants. Make it your goal to know what God wants today.
How do you do this? You have to seek and you have to scribe. Verse 10 says, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements.” He learned what God said, did what God said, and taught what God said when he returned to Jerusalem. He was prepared to do that. He sought God.
So, seek and scribe, writing and Scripture. What does that mean? It means how you have to seek God. You have to seek what He has already said. Verse 6 says, “This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given.” Ezra 7 tells us he was a man who was of the priestly line. More importantly, he was a man who had chosen to study the Scriptures.
How did he know what God wanted? Well, there were specific situations facing him, but he began with moral precepts, the foundational truths that God had actually committed to print. He sought what the Scriptures said. So, make it your goal to know what God wants today. How? Seek what God has written. Know what God has said.
Why would that be important? The reason it is important is because God is the king of the king. Proverbs 21:1 Says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD.” In Ezra 7:27 Ezra exclaims, “Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.” So, there was a king who had conquered the world, but God was the king of that king. God is the one who is and was sovereign.
Throughout Ezra 7 you find the phrase “the hand of God.” The hand of God was on Ezra and worked through this king to give Ezra money, power, and the guidance to go back to Jerusalem. Verse 6 tells us that God had given the law of Moses and the king had given Ezra his request according to the hand of God upon him. So, the king granted him permission, authority, and financial resources, but God was the one who was working through the king.
Verse 25 tells us God also gave His wisdom directly to Ezra. Have you ever been at a restaurant when you have either really good or really poor service, and you say to the person attending you, “I’d like to talk to the manager.” Why are you doing that? You are going directly to the person who is really in charge of the person who is in charge of the service that you are being given. “I want to talk to the manager” is a way of saying, “I want to speak to the one who is in charge.” No matter who reigns, God rules the world today. Make it your goal to know what God wants today and you will live with strength, wisdom, and guidance you would not otherwise have.