Ezra - A Timely Priest Then And Now

It’s good to have role models. My new role model has been dead for thousands of years.

His name is Ezra.

“He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him” (Ezra 7:6).

Ezra had three things going for him: knowledge of God’s word, favour from man and favour from God. All of these were primarily gifts of grace and yet simultaneously things he could commit to work on.

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). 

A Commitment To Learn

I have learned that the call of the scribe is one that God gives to people and then asks them to work hard at it. It takes dedication and a willingness to embrace the loneliness of taking the time to work hard. I understand that more in my second term here than I did at first. I understand it as I fill out applications that would see this continue for years. 

Lewis once said, “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of being a Christian, I warn you: you are embarking on something that is going to take the whole of you, brains and all.”

Being a scribe as Ezra was did not come overnight. It took a lot of work but I suppose he was had to be called and willing to respond.

A Commitment To Submit

Ezra did not just study, he was also obedient to God’s word. He was a doer of the Word! How many scholars miss this part? Many seek to study but how many strive to submit to what they read, staying under the Word and not placing themselves over it? 

I find studying hard and yet it is the easy part. With knowledge comes responsibility. Obedience is much more difficult. I love this famous GK Chesterton quote, “The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting.  It has been found difficult and left untried.”

A Commitment To Teach

Ezra comes into the biblical narrative at a crucial time. The Israelites had become biblically illiterate, hard-hearted, stiff-necked and were lamenting in exile the consequences for their rebellion. Thankfully, Yahweh was faithful to his covenant people and raised up Nehemiah (the leader) and Ezra (the prophet/priest) to bring a time of renewal to Israel.

Nehemiah brought the wall.

Ezra brought the Word.

“And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people…and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God and all the people answered, Amen, and lifted up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).

I’ve been praying that God would give me not only the anointing and favour that he gave Ezra but most importantly that he would raise up many more Ezra’s in Canada (and around the world for that matter).

Ezra committed to study, to submit and to teach. God blessed him because he blessed God and others. God’s people were different because of this man of God. That’s a role model I want to be like.