It was a wonderful turn of events that had led to the release of the Jewish people. They were free to go now and fulfil their calling back in Judea. We might think that there would have been a rush to leave Babylonia, but it was quite the opposite. By far the majority of Jews chose to stay. Most of them had been born and raised in Babylonia; they had established themselves there and had livelihoods. The prospect of stepping away from this relative security to take a very long and extremely dangerous journey to Judea, where they had no idea how things would go for them, was not attractive. For the Levites particularly, this meant a radical change of life since they would have to work in the temple, at least part time. No wonder Ezra had to push to find enough Levites to come! God often asks us to step out into the unknown to follow him. Our obedience must be such that it supersedes our sense of insecurity. If you want to feel like you are in control and secure all the time then you will struggle to obey God, and in fact your fear will probably block out God’s guidance altogether. Ezra knew that his journey was risky, but he would not rely on the king’s troops to guard him. God had called them to go, and he had to trust that God would protect them. So, they prayed earnestly and then stepped out into the unknown, and remarkably they were not attacked once even though they travelled through bandit infested territories with a huge amount of wealth.
Ask God to show you how he wants you to step out and reflect on what may be stopping you.
Read Ezra 8
