“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
What a great description of Ezra’s life. And I love even what Bible says right before this in Ezra chapter seven, verse nine, it says at the very end of that verse, for the good hand of his God was on him for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord. This is a picture of the good hand of God in someone’s life. Like, don’t you want that in your life? Don’t you want it to be true of you that the good hand of God is on your life, all over your life? I want that in my life. I want that in my family. Above all else God, I want that in the church I’m a part of.
The Good Life Founded in the Lord
The good life is found in setting our hearts to study and to meditate on the law of the Lord.
I want that in everything I do, everything around me, everyone around me. The good hand of God will listen to verse 10 for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it. This is exactly what the Bible teaches over and over again. I think about Psalm 1, blessed is the man, the woman who walks not in the council, wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
But his or her delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, we meditate day and night. This is the blessed life. The happy life. The good life is found in setting our hearts to study, to meditate on the law of the Lord. And not just to read it, study it, and memorize it, meditate on it, but to do it and to tell it to others.
Ezra 7:10 Prays for the Fullness of God’s Blessing
So this is what we see all over the Bible. This is the command we’ve been given. This is the commission we’ve been given from Jesus, right? To teach people to obey everything he has commanded us. That means we to know what he’s commanded us. We need to set our hearts to study his word, his commands. Then to do it, to obey it and to teach others to obey him. So let’s just pray these verses over our lives. God, we want your good hand upon us. We want experience the fullness of your blessing. And we want to experience the blessed life, the happy life, the full life, the abundant life that you promise in Psalm one, and that we see here in Ezra.
And so we pray for hearts that are set to study your word. To meditate on your word. To memorize your word. God, we pray you make us people whose hearts are set on your word and not just knowing it, but doing it. So God, help us to obey your word and to lead others to obey it, to teach others your word in whatever sphere of influence you give to us. Above all else God, help us to pass your word onto others in our homes, our neighborhoods and places where we work, that we would be dispensers of your work word of the life that’s found in your word.
Ezra 7:10 Prays for God’s Word to Reach All Nations
Oh God, in a world where billions of people have not been reached by your word. Not been reached by the good news of your love in Christ and the gospel. So God, we pray that you help us to be faithful to proclaim your word where it’s not yet gone. That they might set their heart to study your word.
So God, we pray for the spread of the gospel among the Nuosu people of East Asia. So God, please draw. Please God, bring them we prayed to life in your word and help us to go and proclaim your word to them. So God may it be said of each of us what was said of Ezra here. That your good hand was upon us for we had set our hearts to study your law and to do it and to teach your statues and your rules. 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.
