During my trek out to Rocky Mountain House, Alberta Canada, I encountered several stretches of road construction. While driving through one of those stretches, I noticed a construction crew hard at work. I am not sure what they are doing but I am sure it took some planing. I am sure planing had to begin with surveyors measuring angles and distances so to develop a plan for the construction crew to work from. And this got me thinking about the book of Ezra.
The beginning of chapter 7 is the genealogy of Ezra. Normally I would simply skip over this long and often difficult to pronounce list of names. Instead, I slowly made my way through the list of names and at the very end is "the son of Aaron the Chief priest." This last name struck me with the realization that Ezra was part of the priestly line. Then upon arriving to Jerusalem in chapter 9, Ezra gets a report from the leaders that the people of God have intermarried with the local people. Something God had commanded them not to do. So what does Ezra do? He surveys and calls the people of God to reform. He calls them back to God.
Michael Williams in his book How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens nicely summarizes Ezra's purpose. He writes:
They [God's people] had labored long and against fierce opposition to build the temple where he [God] would visibly dwell among them. But the major obstacle to their progress was not the bureaucratic red tape strewn in their path by the jealous and suspicious local officials. No, their real obstacle was internal. The external construction [of the temple] was accomplished, but there was some work left to do for the internal construction work of the returned exiles. Ezra served as building inspector for the internal construction work of the exiles. (58)
Thinking about Ezra and this quote from Williams, I asked myself: who are the Ezras in my life? Who has God used to be my spiritual surveyors?
The Ezras in my life have been my mentors and close friends. They have surveyed my internal construction, noting what needs repair. They have walked along side of me as I made such repairs. And I thank God for placing these "spiritual surveyors" into my life. So who are your spiritual surveyors? Who are your Ezras?
Grace and Peace,
BD
The beginning of chapter 7 is the genealogy of Ezra. Normally I would simply skip over this long and often difficult to pronounce list of names. Instead, I slowly made my way through the list of names and at the very end is "the son of Aaron the Chief priest." This last name struck me with the realization that Ezra was part of the priestly line. Then upon arriving to Jerusalem in chapter 9, Ezra gets a report from the leaders that the people of God have intermarried with the local people. Something God had commanded them not to do. So what does Ezra do? He surveys and calls the people of God to reform. He calls them back to God.
Michael Williams in his book How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens nicely summarizes Ezra's purpose. He writes:
They [God's people] had labored long and against fierce opposition to build the temple where he [God] would visibly dwell among them. But the major obstacle to their progress was not the bureaucratic red tape strewn in their path by the jealous and suspicious local officials. No, their real obstacle was internal. The external construction [of the temple] was accomplished, but there was some work left to do for the internal construction work of the returned exiles. Ezra served as building inspector for the internal construction work of the exiles. (58)
Thinking about Ezra and this quote from Williams, I asked myself: who are the Ezras in my life? Who has God used to be my spiritual surveyors?
The Ezras in my life have been my mentors and close friends. They have surveyed my internal construction, noting what needs repair. They have walked along side of me as I made such repairs. And I thank God for placing these "spiritual surveyors" into my life. So who are your spiritual surveyors? Who are your Ezras?
Grace and Peace,
BD
