Me? A teacher? Ezra 7, continued

The result of God's blessings as we study and obey His Word, and as we tell others of what we've learned, should be that we glorify God.  In a previous post, we noted that the incredible letter from King Artaxerxes detailed so much, above and beyond what Ezra could have hoped for, and now we see his response:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king’s powerful officials. Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me. (Ezra 7:27-28)

There's that phrase again . . . the hand of the Lord was upon Ezra.
He didn't take credit for the time that he'd spent in study; he didn't ask for pats on the back because he devoted himself to study of the scriptures. He didn't brag about how brave he was to making his bold request to the king, nor about how eloquently he talked, or how smoothly he persuaded him.
Nope.
He gave all the credit to God, for His abundant mercy.
This is a ringing affirmation of his faith and his desire to glorify God for that mercy.

You see, any good that pops up in anyone's heart - believer or non-believer (like the heart of a pagan king) - comes from God. And He deserves all of the glory!  Like Ezra, our first instinct should be to raise our voice and thank Him, praising Him for the blessing of serving Him.
When God blesses us, our appropriate response should be to bless God for His abundant mercy - He sees fit to use such imperfect people as we are!
Wait a minute . . . that's important. Let's examine that a little deeper, OK?
When we look at the gospels, we see God using imperfect people, no? I mean, why in the world did Jesus choose the individuals that He did?  Perhaps it was to pinpoint the fact that they would be able to rise above their flaws and their mistakes -- because of His power.
After all, He didn't say, "Follow me" to the popular people. Nor to the rich or the successful. Can you imagine how the Pharisees looked down their noses at the team our Savior pulled together? (Grin)
It didn't matter what towns people were from; it didn't matter what they did to make their living; it didn't matter if people looked up to them or down at them; what mattered was that Jesus was going to use them for the good of His kingdom, and to reach others with the gospel.

Even if you look at the Old Testament, you see that God chose some interesting characters to move His purposes forward -- some of them were in extremely difficult times of their lives, too:
     
            Abraham -- was very old
            Joseph -- was abused
            Elijah -- was suicidal
            Job -- went bankrupt
            Moses -- had a speech problem
            Gideon -- was paralyzed by fear
            Samson -- was a rogue with ladies
            Rahab -- was a prostitute
            Noah -- was a drunk
            Jeremiah -- was very young
            Jacob -- was a cheat and a deceiver
            David -- was a murderer and adulterer
            Jonah -- ran from God
            Naomi -- was a woman, and also a widow

In the New Testament, the Samaritan woman was a divorcee; Martha was a worrywort; Peter denied Jesus three times; Zaccheus was greedy; the disciples fell asleep during prayer; and Paul persecuted and killed Christians! (Many thanks to Jarrid Wilson for the illustrative list.)

If we ever feel unworthy, we should remember all of the flawed people that God has used to share hope to this world. He knew them. He called them.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)          

No matter what our obstacles are, the same power that made it possible for Jesus to conquer the grave lives within us! Of course we have flaws -- but He is Almighty!

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. (Titus 3:5-8)

To finish our lesson for today, let's go back to the list up there and look closely at one of the characters there: Jacob. There are many places in the Bible where God is known as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and so on. I think it's pretty special that He is pleased also to be known as the God of Jacob. (You can check out Psalm 46 if you have time.)
Jacob was a man with "a ton" of shortcomings. His checkered past included his conniving his brother out of the birthright. Instead of pleading with God, he bargained with Him! Again, I am running long today, but you can check out Genesis 28 if you have the time to open your Bible there.)
After many years of trying to out-maneuver the wily Laban, he returned to the homeland full of fear about what his brother Esau might do to him. The night before Jacob was to meet him, the Lord met him and wrestled with him - Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life from that encounter.
Before dawn, the angel of God said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking."
Here is the answer Jacob gave: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." (Genesis 32)

The Lord did bless Jacob, the deceitful, the conniver, by changing his name to Israel -- meaning one who has wrestled with God and prevailed. The greatness of Jacob had nothing to do with any strengths or abilities he had on his own. The greatness he experienced in the remainder of his life was due to God's hand of blessing resting on Jacob.

I don't know about you, but I'm inspired. I want to join Jacob and pray, "God, I won't let You go until You bless me." I want to make it possible for Him to bless me, by studying and obeying His Word. I want to take those studies and pass along what I learn to others. And I want to give all the glory to Him!