Ezra 7 #FirstHour

FORGED
"This Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh the God of Israel gave. The king granted him all his requests, for the hand of Yahweh was upon him." (Ezra 7:6 LEB)

God masterfully crafts His metal under a leaf-covered hut near nowhere. Ezra was born and grew up in a slave environment -- his taskmasters were they that uprooted their dignified Jewish family of priests from their homeland hundreds of miles away only to work as slaves in the land of the oppressor.

A child of God in affliction is a piece of ore that God burns, pounds, shapes, pounds some more, burns some more in the fiery furnace and sharpens on a nasty whetstone to become shiny and useful blade. The pounding of that blessed hammer on the anvil of affliction only God hears WHY. Others may hear and scoff. Puritan Richard Sibbes writes "Ungodly spirits, ignorant of God's ways in bringing his children to heaven, censure broken hearted Christians as miserable persons, whereas God is doing a gracious, good work with them. It is no easy matter to bring a man from nature to grace, and from grace to glory."

"The king granted him all his requests, for the hand of Yahweh was upon him." That's all there is to say for a man who IS forged in the furnace and the hammer of God's favor and mercy.

#FirstHour