Looking To God (Ezra 8:22-23)

 


Wednesday, October 23, 2024


Psalms 124; 125; 126

Ezra 8:15-36

1 Peter 3:17-4:2


Observance: James of Jerusalem, brother of our Lord, martyr (d. c. 62)


Looking To God (Ezra 8:22-23)


When he was in the Persian capital and given this life-changing decree to rebuild the temple – of gold and silver, and a blessing from the king – Ezra must have felt bullet-proof. And so, filled with wonder and awe and confidence in the protective providence of the Almighty, he declined any human protection for his voyage down to Jerusalem.


Half-way through, however, the sheen of those heady days began to wear off, and reality began to sink in. Here he is, in the thick of bandit country, with a king’s ransom worth of sacred treasure, and all the women and children about as well. And so, he gathers the people, and calls them to prayer. He may have even led them in words similar to those in our prayer book: “Give peace in our time, O Lord. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.”


Being without an armed guard, prayer was the only recourse left open to Ezra. And yet, prayer was also a more powerful protection than any armed guard could ever be.


Our Lord often left the crowds to pray. His work was even greater than Ezra’s: he was a miraculous healer, and his teaching was to be as words from God’s very own mouth. Jesus needed the strength only prayer could provide. When he went into the bandit-filled thicket on the night of his betrayal, he went in the power of prayer. As he hung on the cross bearing the sins of the people he was saving, his mouth was filled with the prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit in the Psalms.


If these Old Testament books are given to us as, amongst other things, to provide an example (1 Corinthians 10:11), then it is not difficult to see the place of prayer in the church. As the people of God, saved from sin and raised from death, given a sword and a trowel to do kingdom work in this life, then nothing less than prayer will see us through. If we are worried that, in moments of spiritual fervour, our mouths write cheques we are worried we cannot cash, then prayer will see us through. Boldly proclaiming our trust in the Lord in public, we then turn to our prayer rooms in private fear that perhaps the Lord will, this time, not save us. Only prayer will see us through.


What hopes and dreams do you have for the kingdom of heaven in your life? Does your frail faith send you to pray? What happens when you do?


O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord.

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