It’s been a couple of weeks since I wrote something from the book of Ezra, and Ezra himself is worth a look. One of my life verses, which I quote here from time to time, is this:

Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord and do it and teach his statutes and rules in Israel. (Ezra 7.10, ESV)

Ezra lived it out. We see two examples of this. Here’s the first:

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. (Ezra 8.21 – 23, ESV)

I memorized verses 21 and 22 decades ago. “I was ashamed to ask the king for protection because I told him the hand of our God will protect us.” (Paraphrase) That’s putting your money where your mouth is!

It’s not a hard and fast rule to do as Ezra did. In the very next book, Nehemiah asked the king for protection (Nehemiah 2.7, 8), and he says the king granted his request “because the good hand of my God was upon me.” To Ezra, the hand of God meant he didn’t need anything from the king. To Nehemiah, the hand of God meant when he asked the king for something, the king would respond favorably.  

Then in Ezra 9 and 10, Ezra lives out his view of the prohibition against intermarriage by making all the Jews get rid of their foreign wives and children. Dr. Willie Peterson of Dallas Seminary told me when I asked about Ezra’s action that Ezra was wrong.

Ezra was motivated by his pledge to do the will of God. But sometimes it’s not clear what that will is. It was certainly clear to Ezra in both chapters 8 and 9. And foreign wives can turn your hearts away from God as Solomon’s did. But they also have the option to turn their wives to the true God.

For the rest of you who are in mixed marriages—Christian married to nonChristian—we have no explicit command from the Master. So this is what you must do. If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be left out; as it is, they also are included in the spiritual purposes of God. On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can. You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God. (1 Corinthians 7.12 – 16, MSG)

If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of things to do and not to do, you won’t find it in following Jesus! We commit ourselves to do the will of God and carry that commitment out with increasing skill and accuracy.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12.2, ESV)