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Volume. XXXVII, No. 34 The Life that Blesses (Part 2)How Should One Seek God’s Blessing? God’s blessing come to those who ‘prepared his heart, to seek the law of the LORD (Ezra 7:10a). The Scripture says that Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD. Ezra was a priest. That means that he came from the tribe of Levite, a descendant of Aaron. Being born as a Levite, he definitely had some privileges.
Similarly, all believers in Christ trace their spiritual lineage back to Abraham (Galatians 3:29). We are also heirs of heavenly blessings (Ephesians 1:3) and royal priests in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you are in Christ, you have a have a spiritual lineage which can be traced all the way back to Abraham through Christ Jesus.
However, being part of this spiritual lineage does not guarantee God’s blessing. Just as the Jews in the flesh were not guaranteed of God’s blessing just because they are physically descendants of Abraham. God’s people today are not automatically blessed—because his blessing is conditioned upon our obedience. And Ezra knew that the only way to procure God’s blessing is ‘to prepare his heart, to seek the law of the LORD’.
The Law of the LORD to us today is the Word of God contained in the Old and the New Testament. WCF Shorter Catechism Q3 asks, ‘What do the Scriptures principally teach?’ Answer: ‘The Scripture principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.’ As we can see, studying of God’s Word and God’s blessing is closely related together.
Too often we Christians pray to God to bless us or grant us our heart’s desire like going through a grocery list, but seldom pray to God to help us to obey Him. We have become so driven by consumer mentality so that we think that coming to church is just a way to get what we want, forgetting that seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness is the prerequisite to procuring God’s blessing.
Again, the Scripture says, ‘Ezra prepared his heart’. What is there to ‘prepare’ if he is already so well-verse with the Word of God? Does he even need to prepare himself to study? There is no doubt that Ezra was gifted. But even if he was so gifted, studying God’s Word would not have happened automatically and spontaneously.
The Scripture says Ezra was ‘a ready scribe’. The word ‘ready’ means ‘swift’ or ‘skilled,’ implying that Ezra was quick to understand and put together the various parts of God’s Word. But Ezra was not just a ‘hearer’—he was a ‘doer’.
We can’t have God’s blessing if we neglect to obey His Word. John says, ‘If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.’ (1 John 1:6). The goal of Bible study is not to fill our heads with facts, although facts are important, but to change our hearts. When our hearts are changed according to God’s Word, we would start living in conformity to Jesus Christ, our LORD.
Ezra’s character and integrity to the extent that he gave him enormous material resources and told him to use it for the temple. According to Ezra 7:15-20, it mentions silver and gold to buy bullocks, rams, lambs. If anything was left, he told him to do with it according to the will of his God (Ezra 7:18) —isn’t that amazing? Why? Because Ezra’s obedience to His God revealed what kind of God he was worshipping.
I believe Artaxerxes saw something in Ezra’s life. He saw a man who is serious about the God he believes. Ezra obeyed God perfectly to the jot and title according to God’s law. When we see Ezra’s obedience and His desire to study God’s Word and His passion to obey God, we see a shadow of the perfect obedience of Christ Jesus. Similarly, when we study God’s Law and obey Him with all our hearts, people see Christ in us. Thus, our obedience should be obvious to those in the world who know us. Not just the people in the church but your colleagues and classmates should know that our lives are governed by God’s Word.
Ezra not only prepared his heart to seek and obey God’s law, but he also taught God’s Word. This is also a reason why he was ‘blessed’. (Ezra 7:10c) But he was blessed not by teaching God’s Word per se, but he was blessed because he practiced what he taught. This is why we can’t just get anyone to teach God’s Word, let alone preaching. If we teach others what we know in our head but do not practice in our life, our teaching is not a blessing to others neither will it bless us.
John Calvin wrote, ‘It would be better for the preacher ‘to break his neck’ going into the pulpit than for him not to be the first to follow God’. Or, as Charles Spurgeon wrote, ‘If any man’s life at home is unworthy, he should go several miles away before he stands up to preach, and then, when he stands up, he should say nothing’.
The real blessing of teaching does not come from teaching itself, but the preparation and effort one put in for teaching: study and obeying, it is all about his life. Such study and obedience are the foundation for imparting the Word to others, whether personally or in public settings, namely preaching. The final end of God’s blessing should be our glorifying God for His abundant mercy (Ezra 7:27-28).
When we obey, practice and teach God’s Word, God’s blessing would flow in and through our lives. His will would get accomplished, and His name would be glorified in our lives. That is what happened in this chapter. After Ezra cites the incredible letter from King Artaxerxes recorded in verses 11-26, he gave all credit to God for His abundant mercy. Ezra knew that there is nothing that he could claim credit for. This should be our attitude when God has blessed with success.
When God blesses us, our response should be to ‘bless God’ as Ezra said in verse 27: ‘Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.’ Some would say, ‘What does it mean to bless God?’ To bless God also means to praise Him by giving glory to Him.
Conclusion Dearly beloved, the ultimate blessing that God can give you is the new life and forgiveness that comes through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The material blessings we enjoy from day to day are temporary and empty, but the spiritual blessings available to us in Christ encompass time and eternity, as well as material and immaterial things.
Would you seek God’s blessing of the blessing of this world, my friend? God’s blessing is the only blessing that last! As John Newton wrote, ‘Fading is the world’s best pleasure, all its boasted pomp and show; Solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion’s children know’ (Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken, John Newton).
Are you one of Zion’s children? Or are you a child of God? If you are, be reminded that God’s blessing comes to those who study and obey His Word with a view to imparting what they have learned to others, all to the glory of God. May God help us!
By Rev David Weng
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