Yesterday's and today's passage is Ezra 7.
During the reign of Artaxerxes, Ezra, teacher of the law and priest in direct line to Aaron, went to Jerusalem with a letter from Artaxerxes. The letter said that anyone who wanted to go with Erza could go. Artaxerxes gave him gold and silver to buy the animals for sacrifice at the temple.
He gave Ezra a spending account. He exempted the Levites and temple workers from taxes. He gave Ezra power to appoint the magistrates and justices throughout the Trans-Euphrates. Ezra praises God for putting all this in the king's heart. He says that because God's hand was on him he had the courage and confidence to convince leading men to go with him.
In chapter 4, in answer to a lying letter from Rehum and his cohorts about the rebuilding of Jersusalem, Artaxerxes ordered the construction to stop. In today's passage we see that the king not only did not oppose the building of the temple but actively encouraged it.
Ezra has impecable credentials. As a priest, his genealogy goes back to Aaron himself. He is a knowlegeable and highly respected teacher of the law. Three times in the passage he is called "priest and teacher." So respected is he by the king that he is given power to appoint judges and magistrates.
Despite these credentials, Ezra has no courage or confidence for a mission until God's hand is on him. Then he undertakes the four month journey from rich and cultured Babylon to broken-down Jerusalem and life in a construction site.
Like Ezra, I have lots of credentials after a 30 year academic career and a lot of publications. I didn't come from a long time of teachers, though. My ancestors were farmers, mechanics and policemen.
Until a few years ago, I had little confidence and no courage, just like Ezra.
I was an old guy enjoying the sites of Seoul, teaching here and there, and wondering what I was doing in this foreign place.
Although my credentials made me qualified to be a principal, it was something I was afraid to think about let alone try.
I was okay where I was.
Then God started to call me to becoming a principal. My four month journey to Jerusalem, to becoming a principal, actually took a year.
I had only small courage because I recognized God's hand in guiding me to my school.
Although I could see that what needed to be done in the school fell within my area of expertise, I wasn't at all confident I would be able to get it done.
That lack of confidence kept me on my knees praying to God. It still does.
Like Ezra, I have the authority to appoint judges and magistrates in my school. They are called teachers. They are all answers to my prayers to God.
I hire no one without weeks of prayer.
I finally got some courage when I accepted that God was with me.
This happened one day at a dinner my wife and I had with the owner of my school owner and his wife. I learned that the owner and his family had been praying for a year for a new principal. I was the answer to their prayer.
I think that was the most humbling moment of my life.
At first, I did not want to accept it. I did not want to be the answer to anyone's prayer.
It was okay for my teachers to be the answer to my prayers, but it wasn't okay for me to be the answer to someone else's prayer.
It has taken me over two years to accept God's hand on me at my school. As I have accepted, my courage and confidence have grown, just like Ezra's.
I understand Ezra. Credentials mean nothing.
They give no confidence and no courage because they are not God.
For me, they only fed my arrogance.
Courage and confidence come from knowing that God's hand is on me despite my sins and sinfulness.
God's hand means I can trust in the Lord and depend on him to guide me in my decisions and my actions.
I don't have to depend on who I am or what my credentials say.
Lord, keep me mindful that my position depends on you, not my credentials. Keep my eyes on you so that I may see your hand guiding me the way I need to go.
