“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”
– Ezra 7:10
I read Ezra 7:10, and I’m challenged, exhorted, encouraged in a way that I want to challenge, encourage, exhort you. Let’s set our hearts to study the law of the Lord. What if we actually did this? Making each of our lives as followers of Jesus. Our hearts were set on studying, reading, knowing the law of God, the word of God. This is not just … I mean obviously this is a picture here in Ezra of the leader among God’s people doing this, and there’s no question. This is the primary responsibility of a leader in the church.
It is our prayer that God will set our hearts on Him that we may be obedient to proclaim the Word of Christ to others. May God’s Word be constantly on our hearts and lips.
I think about my life as a pastor, other pastors, elders in the church. The one competency qualification … All kinds of character qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1. But the one competency qualification is that a pastor, elder, is able to teach; studies the word of God, and is able to teach the word of God to the people. This is how God leads his people through his word, through the mouths of faithful pastors and elders who are proclaiming, teaching his words. There’s no question. There’s an example here in Ezra here for every pastor and leader in the church, especially if you’re a pastor or a leader. Study the law of God and teach it faithfully, but this is not just for pastors and leaders in the church.
This Verse Wants Us To Study His Word
I think about parents. I think about Deuteronomy 4, and Deuteronomy 6. Know this word and teach it to your children. Pass it onto your children. Talk about the word of God everywhere; as you lie down, as you rise up, as you walk along the way. All the time. For every one of us as a follower of Christ, we are called by God to know his word and to pass his word onto others, to talk about his word with others, to teach others his word. This is disciple-making. Teaching others to obey everything Christ has commanded us. So God, we pray. Today, in a fresh way, that you would set our hearts to study your word.
Ezra 7:10 Prays That Our Hearts Are Set On Him
I pray for this in my life, I pray for this in every person who is listening to this right now. Set our hearts to know and meditate on, and memorize and study, and read and listen to, and in the process, love your word. Set our hearts on it. And set our hearts on your word. Tune our hearts to your word, and as we do, as we learn it, as we know it, as we love it; use us to pass it onto others, to teach it to others. We pray in our homes, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in our churches. Wherever we are, wherever we go, whenever we lie down, sit, rise, walk; God, please. Use us to proclaim your word, to share your word, to encourage others with your word. May your word be constant in our hearts and on our lips.
May it be so. We pray, may it be so among pastors and leaders in your church. Just saturate our leadership, our lives in your church with your word, and may it be so among all of us as we grow as disciples and we make disciples. Help us to love your word and help others to walk in it. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
