SOAP Ezra 8: Get Low

Get Low

Ezra 8

And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

Ezra 8:21-23 NLT

In this chapter, we get to read more about Ezra. The chapter started by listing all of the people who would be traveling back to Jerusalem with Ezra. It's crazy to think about how far of a trip this was! I discovered it was nearly 1000 miles across the desert. I can’t imagine having to make that trip without a car!  

We see in verses 21-23 how Ezra and all the men were able to make it. They humbled themselves, fasted, and prayed. They realized that they needed God’s protection for the journey.

When I relate this to my life today, I reflect on the times I needed God to cover myself and my family with his protection.

I will never forget the time when I traveled from California to Wisconsin in December 😳. We always pray for safe travels and protection. We never know what could happen along the way. We ended up going through a bad snowstorm. We happened to pull over to get gas and my Dad always does a quick inspection of the car before getting back on the road. He noticed the wheel was completely falling off of the trailer we were pulling! My Dad was in awe because there was no way that we should have been able to drive as far as we did with that kind of damage.

The Lord heard our prayers and protected us from harm just as he did Ezra and his men. They also made it to Jerusalem unharmed.

We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19 and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way.

Ezra 8:31 NLT

PRAYER: Lord, Thank you for being my protector. Thank you for giving me life experiences that strengthen my faith. You show your goodness and live in so many situations and I am thankful for that. I give you all the glory and the praise! Amen