God Will Protect His Plan

Ezra 8:21-32

21 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. 22 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.” 23 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

24 I appointed twelve leaders of the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests—25 to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. 26 I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows:

24 tons of silver,
7,500 pounds of silver articles,
7,500 pounds of gold,
27 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins,
2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.

28 And I said to these priests, “You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the Lord. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. 29 Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.” 30 So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.

31 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. 32 So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days.

I can only imagine how hard it would have been to try and organize the travels of 8,000+ people, not to mention the treasure that accompanied them. Of the people who went there were 260 or so charged with transporting the treasures. There was over 63,000 pounds of the treasure and 260 people to transport it, which would mean each man was charged with about 242 pounds of treasure to transport. This doesn't even cover their own belongings they needed to make the journey.

This is an example of why it is important to have God active in the planning and execution phases of what you are doing. Ezra was returning to Jerusalem because God was directing him to go. Once he had that direction from God he gathered as many people as felt called to go to come with him. He waited for three days for everyone to assemble. During that time they were praying and fasting to seek God's protection over their journey. They had told the king that their God would protect them so they didn't bother to ask for an escort. As the story shows they did not need one from the king because God did protect them on their journey.

They needed God's protection. The value of what they were transporting in treasure would be equal to $6,949,860.00 at today's prices! WOW! That is a valuable offering that was made. As you see in verse 25 where all this came from. This was God's financing plan. How much do you think the people of Israel could have contributed since they were captives in a foreign land? They were the slaves of their captives. They didn't get to keep their treasures when they were taken captive so they did not contribute a lot to this campaign. Most of it came from the king, his council and his officials. That is God's financing plan in action. He uses the riches of the wicked to carry out the plans of the godly. He did it then and He does it now.

I praise God that He has the resources needed already set aside for me to accomplish His plans for me and that I can access those finances when needed. I command the ministering angels to go into this world's system and bring in the finances I need to accomplish God's plans for me. Compel those who need to pay for what they have received to send the money in so that plans God has for me can be accomplished. I praise God right now for the plans He has given to me and for His provision to cover those plans. I thank Him for His protection over my family and for His guidance so that when the money does come in I will be responsible to use it for what it is intended to be used for and not my own greed. Thank You, Jesus, for making a way for me when there doesn't seem to be a way and for guiding and directing me on this path You have laid out for me. All the praise, honor and glory belong to You and You alone for You are worthy to be praised!

Published by Erik L. Vakula
Daily Bread From the Word
Copyright © 2009 Erik Vakula, All Rights Reserved