Ezra 8:22-23 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
I know there are times when trusting God does not seem the logical thing to do. But if our earlier words have witnessed to a true faith and an abiding trust in Him, there may come a public moment when those words will be tested. Ezra was in such a moment as he was about to lead God’s people back to Jerusalem from exile.
Ignatius of Loyola was a Jesuit Priest in the 1500’s. He wrote that Christians are to “work as if everything depended on God and pray as if everything depended on you.” I can see how Ignatius understood trust and dependence on God. Work is put into a better perspective because we are not the ultimate determiner of the outcome for our efforts. In turn, our prayers should be many and should be often. For us to see the results we desire then we must petition and beg the One in whose hand the future is held.
Ezra understood this principle. Having led his people in prayer and praise to God, how could he then turn to man for protection. God had brought about this miraculous event. God would see them all safely through to Jerusalem.
How many times do we pull up and turn to another person for help, having just professed faith and trust in God to provide. Don’t you find yourself praying to God for something, only to see yourself later that day doing all the work to make your prayer come to fruition?
Ignatius is speaking to us. Work like God is in control. Pray as if the world depended on your conversations with God. See how life will fall begin to conform to God’s will.
