Change is something which brings anxiety in even the best of us. Whether it is a career change, a relocation, starting a family and moving to one income, a significant commitment or any other adjustment to the life we lead, it is entirely natural to feel uncertainty and fear. Thankfully as believers we have the promise of God that whatever happens, it will ultimately work for our good in whatever way God has ordained.
For Ezra and those returning to Jerusalem, the journey was one of substantial change and danger. They were leaving behind the only places they knew, to go to a land they had never seen. They faced the prospect of banditry and death on the way. They needed the sovereign protection of God. Ezra’s anxiety points us to how we too can step out in faith, despite our fears, and trust God to lead us safely to him.
After Ezra gathered those returning with him to Jerusalem for the religious and political reforms so desperately needed, and convinced the lacking Levites to join the return, we might think the next step was to unpitch the tents and hit the road. But it was not.
Instead, Ezra “proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods” (v.21).
Ezra and his group were quite understandably nervous. While we do not usually worry about a road trip to another city, the journey ahead of them was quite dangerous. Bandits and thieves were a common reality, even for the humble traveller.
But this was no poor group of pilgrims. Ezra tells us in verses 25 to 30 of the substantial gold and silver items which they were taking back to Jerusalem. So many, that priestly guards had to be arranged to watch over and account for the sum and value of these items. A plot line for a heist movie, in other words.
And so Ezra and his thousands of supporters fasted and prayed for three days, for God’s protection. They were especially reliant on him, because Ezra felt that they needed to demonstrate God’s superiority to the false gods around, and he had declined troops from the king as a result (v.22). In other words, Ezra had likely proclaimed the truths of Scripture. Now, the rubber was hitting the road and he had to live by his words. Sounds familiar to me.
Thankfully, God “listened to our entreaty” as they fasted and prayed and implored his protective hand, trusting in God’s goodness “on all who seek him” (vv.22-3). An older Ezra, writing his tale, could look back and see God’s goodness displayed.
After their time of fasting, they departed “from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem” (v.31). And how did the journey go? Little we know for certain, except the most important thing. “The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way” (v.31).
They stepped out in faith, and arrived at their destination. “We came to Jerusalem” (v.32). They rested for three days, and then on the fourth day carefully counted out and weighed the gold and silver goods carried back for use in the Temple (vv.33-4). The lack of further note suggests that what left Babylon arrived in Jerusalem.
What then was left, after four months of travel? After the laughter and the fear, the uncertain steps and the safe arrival? What else, but worship! They offered “burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats” (v.35). They were Israel: God’s people, in God’s place, worshiping God. Handing out the king’s commissions to his governors (v.36) was an appendix to the most important thing. Praising God.
Ezra’s example is one we can follow as well as we walk through our own seasons of change. As believers, we know that for all those in Christ God works all things together for our good, just as Ezra could proclaim “the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him”. Same God, same goodness.
Same approach. Turn to God in prayer. Cast your worries on his goodness. Step out trusting God, that the outcome will show God’s goodness, be for your good, and bring God glory.
Walking through change does not take away our worries. But in the journey, God is with us. Walking that path in prayer, trusting in God’s goodness, helps us on the journey. Because through drawing close to God, we feel his presence with us.
One way or another, we will reach the end of that change. Whether it is a stop on the road of this life, or the end of this life and its many changes. And there, in God’s presence, we shall follow Ezra’s example once more. We shall worship God there!