Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
I loved reading this...Ezra had prepared his heart. We prepare for so many vain things in this world. I think the most common thing all of us prepare is ourselves so the world can view us as we want to be seen. We want to look well put out...well put together...disciplined and ordered. We want our appearance and outward presentation to be pleasing and impressive to those around us. Are you doing the preparing that is really necessary...the preparing of your heart to seek Him and Him alone. Doing the outside preparation without the inside heart set aside for Him is like preparing a body for burial...really what is the point except to make those that are still alive feel better. The body is rotting on the inside and that will become more and more evident on the outside as time passes. The bible says that our outward man is perishing but our inward man is being renewed day by day. When we do what Ezra did we become like the tree in Psalm 1.
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.--Psalm 1:1-3
How do we do this? Ezra gives us the proper order of things. First we are to seek the law and understand it. Why are we to seek it...not for curiosity's sake or for that puffed feeling that comes with knowledge but we are to seek it to do it. We are to make a practice of following God's law. When I practice something I begin to understand it and see the benefits of it in a very personal way. God's word is not only there on the page but it is alive...living and powerful in my life. Ezra, therefore was able to teach the people by not only His word but also his deed.
What an example Ezra is for us. He was a man who had prepared His heart to receive the implanted word with meekness. He was a man devoted to the study of the Scripture. He was a man who was diligent to make a practice of living out the word of God in His life. The blessing comes in the doing girls...James 1:22-25 says this:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
We are not blessed because we know the Scripture...we are blessed when we obey them. When I surrender and obey, something inside me changes. There is a freeing from bondage. When our hearts believe something our actions will follow. Belief will look like something in your life. It will be evident. If we fail to make the Scriptures a part of who we are...if we fail to do what it tells us to do, we deceive ourselves and attempt to deceive others. (See 1 John 1:5-10)
Aside from studying and obeying the Word, Ezra also taught it. The priests and the Levites would read and explain the Scriptures to the people because most could not afford to own their own Scrolls of the Law. Nehemiah 8:8 says this:
So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.
I love that. So they read from the book...distinctly...and gave the people the sense to help them understand the reading. Be faithful to teach His word to your little ones, girls. Hold God's word above all else. Do not try to just fit it into the day. If you do not teach them anything else, you still have given them what they need. This life goes by like a vapor. Your children will grow up fast, and there will never be much time in the day. Make the time. There may also come a time when they will no longer have ears to hear...teach them while they are willing to listen. Let your obedience and surrender to the Spirit of God be evident to them. If your word and deed do not match, neither will theirs. Your children will see through your facade. Teach them by your word and your example. Hide this verse in your heart and ask the Lord to bring it to your mind to remind you to be faithful.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.--Deuteronomy 6:7
Warren Wiersbe pointed out that there is a parallel to this verse in Matthew 13:52. Jesus is speaking.
Then He said to them, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old."
Girls, we have the treasure of His word, both old and new at our fingertips.The Old Testament points the way to Jesus the Messiah. Jesus quoted from it often and upheld its authority. The New Testament contains the teachings of Jesus. Chuck Missler and probably others have said that the Bible is an integrated Message System, containing 66 separate books, penned by 40 different individuals over thousands of years. It has its origin from outside our time domain. It has an integrated design: The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
And according to Napoleon: "The Bible is no mere book, but it is a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it"
Someone else has said that the Bible is an acronym for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth....I like that one.
Be like that householder and bring forth these treasures...meditate on them, hide them in your heart and most of all when and if the Lord blesses you with little ones, be diligent to teach them...not only in word but in deed. I have included Psalm 127...I memorized it early in my walk with the Lord. It is a wonderful reminder always to me of what is important.
Love
Mom
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon
Psalm 127
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
