Prepared For The Roads Ahead

"Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions."
– Ezra 8:21

It comes to our attention that Ezra is taking all the right steps. He is a man who has sought the Lord, and when that happens, God has promised to direct where we walk (Psalm 37:23). This was certainly happening in Ezra’s life. After over fifty years of the first group leaving captivity, Ezra was now leading the return of the second remnant. He knew where he was headed but did not know what to expect along the way. As a result, he proclaimed a fast for three days.

All of these people made a conscious choice to head back to Jerusalem and serve the Lord. They surrendered their lives in captivity for a new life with the Lord. This was a great responsibility for Ezra. He led a group of people on a journey of about nine hundred miles. There were thousands of Jews who were inexperienced in traveling. They were not an armed force but a remnant that had been held captive for seventy years. They were carrying riches and led by a “scholar, not a soldier.” The terrain they were about to set out on was filled with thieves, and they did not have any military to protect them. Ezra recognized the journey ahead. Not only physically but spiritually. He knew they would all need extraordinary strength from the Lord, and calling for a fast would remind them that man shall not live on bread alone but on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). God’s Word is the only thing that will sustain us in difficult times.

Whenever we decide to surrender to the Lord and serve Him, we must be prepared for opposition. The miles can seem long, yet we will be undeterred from our calling if we are prepared correctly. If you have been a Christian for any time, you will discover that Satan does not want us to be sold out for Christ. He wants to kill, steal, and destroy us (John 10:10). He wants to oppress us and steal our joy, so we become ineffective. If he can do that, we eventually become lukewarm and complacent. We become content with coming to church on Sundays only without any thought of the Lord the rest of the week. Jesus gave His life for ours. The least we could do is surrender our will to Him so that we might be used for His purposes and plans. While we travel on this earth, the roads ahead will be difficult, filled with dangers, but the rewards waiting for us in heaven far outweigh these temporary challenges. If we count the cost now, our minds will be prepared for the battles ahead, firmly grounded in God’s Word. We will then have the resolve to finish what the Lord began in us.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish?"
– Luke 14:28-30