The Builder is part of the Building

📖 Ezra 7–8

Today we finally meet Ezra.

     We've spent six chapters rebuilding the Temple, and then there's this big time jump and God almost seems to turn the camera around.

                     The building is finished.

                 Now let's look at the builders.

And I love this because it intertwines with so much God has already been teaching me lately and things I'm talking about in the book im writing too. Ezra 7:10 tells us that Ezra had set his heart to study God's Word, do it, and then teach it.

                   Study it. Live it.Teach it.

    Not study it so I have something good to post. Not read it and immediately think, Ohhhh, I know somebody who needs this. Let it work on me first. That's exactly what God keeps doing with me. So many things I end up teaching or writing about are things He has already made me walk through first. Things that changed me before I ever had words for them.

   And then chapter 8 takes it even further. Ezra realizes they're missing people they need for the journey, so he stops and gets them.Another reminder I apparently need over and over, I am not supposed to build everything by myself. God gives different people different pieces. We need each other.

    And Then they're about to make this dangerous journey carrying people, children, silver, gold and everything entrusted to them. Ezra has already told the king that God's hand is on those who seek Him. And now he has to actually live like he believes it.

    So they fast. They pray. And then they go.

They trust God completely and still count everything. They weigh what they've been given. They assign responsibility for it. And when they arrive, they weigh it again.

                Faith doesn't mean careless.

Trust God. Pray. Follow His leading. And still be a good steward of what He put in your hands. For six chapters I thought Ezra was about rebuilding a Temple. Now I'm realizing the Temple was only part of it.

              God was rebuilding the people.

    That's what He's been showing me through this whole Build year. I've been so focused on what God is asking me to build that I almost missed something. I'm part of the building project too. While I'm building what He's put in front of me, He's building me. While I'm studying, He's changing me. While I'm teaching, He's reminding me to live it first. While I'm learning to trust Him with what He's given me, He's teaching me stewardship. And while I'm trying to build something for Him, He's still working on the builder. He's still working on me. And i realize that the most important thing God builds through my life isn't something I can point to and say, Look what I built. It's who I became while building it.

Study it.

Live it.

Teach it.

Trust Him.

Take care of what He's given you.

And let Him build you too.

Because the builder is part of the building project too. He's building us in the process.

Return. Rebuild. Restore.