He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all that he asked for the hand of the Lord, his God, was on him.
– Ezra 7:6
Then Ezra 7:9, “For on the first day of the month, he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.” Then Ezra 7:28, “I took courage for the hand of the Lord, my God, was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.”
Ezra 7:6 shows us the true source of Godly courage.
Three different times, in Ezra 7, we read that the hand of the Lord was on Ezra. The good hand of his God was on him. This is why he had courage. This is why he had favor. There’s so much we could talk about Ezra here in Ezra 7:10, it says, “Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and his rules in Israel.”
See this picture of a man devoted to God and his Word, he set his heart on God’s Word, and God’s hand is on him. And I just want us… lead us to pray for that in each of our lives, that this would be true of every one of our lives. No matter how young or old you are as you’re listening to this, no matter what age, stage in life that you are in, let’s set our hearts on God and his Word and let’s pray for his hand, his good hand, to be upon us, knowing that this is our greatest need in our lives, to have the hand of God upon us, the favor of God upon us, the goodness of God shining on us.
Ezra 7:6 leads us to beg God for his favor upon our lives.
Yes, let’s pray for this. God, we want what is said about Ezra here in Ezra 7, to be true about us. God, I pray this in my own life. We pray in every one of our lives. May your good hand be upon us. Lord, may your favor rest on us. May your face shine upon us. May your goodness rest on us.
God, we need your hand upon us. We can’t do anything good apart from your hand upon us. We are walking through all kinds of things in our lives and all kinds of temptations that we’re facing and trials. God, we need your good hand to get through this day. We need your good hand to thrive on this day and to wake up tomorrow and to glorify you in all that we do today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
And God, we pray for courage. I pray for courage in my own life. I pray for courage over every single person listening right now, that you would give courage today through your hand, upon your people. Oh God, may it be so.
Prayer for the Chain People
And even as we pray for this in our own lives, we pray for this in others’ lives. We pray for this and people around us. We pray that you would give us your good hand to lead people to know you today. And God, we pray for people who don’t know about Jesus yet. For the Chain people of India, 650,000 of them, no known followers of Jesus in this Hindu people group.
God, may your good hand, please be on the Chain of India. We’re interceding for them right now. We’re praying. May your good hand be upon them in a way that leads them to salvation. May your good hand be on your church around them in India and in raising up more labors to go to the Chain people of India. God, we pray for your good hand of grace upon the Chain people of India, even as we pray for that in each of our lives. In Jesus’ name, according to this picture of Ezra in Ezra 7. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
