Rollin' up our sleeves

Roll up your sleeves and get to work!
It's an old saying, but an apt one.
To get ready to do something intense, or difficult, or demanding.
We roll up our shirt sleeves so that the cuffs don't get dirty as we work.

In the last two weeks, we looked at our lives and studied how God would bless a LIFE.
This time, we will study how God will bless our WORK.

We'll be focusing on the eighth chapter of Ezra, so I hope that you will take some time to prayerfully read it, in preparation for our study.
It's a lengthy chapter . . .
This chapter gives the account of a journey.

The first fourteen verses tell the names of the heads of households that made the journey.
The remainder of the chapter gives the account of their trip.

About five thousand people, including women and children, traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem.
It's interesting to see that the phrase we saw several times in the previous chapter, "the hand of our God," occurs three times in this chapter, too!
Let's pull those out and look at them:

Because the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah’s sons and brothers, 18 in all;  (v 18)

I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.”  (v 22)

On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way.  (v 31)

Honoring God is the over-arching theme of the chapter. First, as he assembled the people, Ezra realized that they needed priests to go with them - worship is important. He took care of that problem right away so that God would be honored by worship.
Second, God was honored in the faith Ezra showed. He didn't accept an armed escort for the trip because he'd already told the king that God would protect them.
Thirdly, Ezra honored God with his honesty - a strict accounting of the resources they were transporting to Jerusalem.

We will delve into the story much more deeply in the coming days. For now, please read it and reflect on it, and we'll dive in next time!