Living a Life Examined by God’s Word

When I read about the exploits of godly men in the Old Testament, my heart burns. These servants were so burdened for the cause of God’s name, they did powerful works that baffle the minds of most Christians today.

One such saint was Ezra, a man of God who awakened his entire nation to God. Scripture says that God had his hand on Ezra, and Ezra testified, “So I was encouraged, as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me” (Ezra 7:28). God stretched out his hand, enveloped Ezra, and turned him into a different man.

Why would God do that? There were hundreds of scribes in Israel at the time and they all had the same calling to study and explain God’s Word to the people. The Scripture gives us the answer: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra made a conscious decision to seek God’s Word above all and to obey it. And he never swerved from that decision.

Ezra didn’t have some supernatural experience that caused him to love the Scriptures. God didn’t tell him, “You’re going to lead 50,000 to repent and do my work, but in order to do that you’re going to need power, fortitude, purity, spiritual authority. Yet, this comes only by knowing and obeying my Word. Tomorrow, you’ll wake up with an ever-growing hunger to study the Word.”

No, that is not the way it happened at all. Ezra was diligent in searching the Scriptures long before God put his hand on him. He allowed himself to be examined by the Word, washed by it, and as a result, God anointed him.

Certainly, God’s anointing is supernatural, but he lays his hand on those who are wholly given to knowing and obeying his Word. That is where the anointing begins. No one can expect God’s touch if he isn’t passionate about the Scriptures.