Ezra’s Example

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10

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Ezra set his heart – he made a decision, firmly, and intentionally purposed in his heart – to study God’s Word.

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To study is “to apply oneself to acquiring a knowledge of (a subject); to examine or investigate carefully and in detail; to observe attentively; scrutinize; to read carefully or intently; to endeavor to learn; to consider.”  (Dictionary.com)  Studying implies an attempt to obtain a grasp of something by methodical or exhaustive thought.

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Joshua 1:8 instructs us that, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Meditating on Scripture requires reading actively and thoughtfully, and lingering over the truths found in God’s Word.  As we do this, those truths will fill our hearts and minds. The more we internalize God’s Word, the more it will influence our daily life.  

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Following Ezra’s example, the understanding that we gain from our study of and meditation on God’s Word should lead us to a life of obedience.

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Ezra set his heart to study God’s Word so that he could do it.

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James 1:22-25 tell us to “…be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

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A mirror is only an effective tool if we do something about the reflection that it offers.  It does no good to look in a mirror and discover that you have spinach in your teeth, or that your hair is sticking up, or your clothes are rumpled, if you walk away without even attempting to fix the problem.  In the same way, what good does it do to come to Scripture and be confronted with commands and principles that we are to obey, or sin that must be confessed and repented of, only to walk away and pretend as though nothing is wrong?

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Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “Those who can, do.  Those who can’t, teach.”  But, “Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” 

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Study.  Then do.  Then teach. 

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You cannot teach what you do not know.  And you should not teach what you will not do.  We must set our hearts to study God’s Word, and to practice what we have learned before we attempt to teach it to others.

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Study produces knowledge.  But, knowledge, without application, without obedience, without a change in thought or behavior will lead to arrogance.  Our knowledge must be turned into obedience.  And, as obedience leads to maturity, we are responsible to teach others.

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“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.”  ~Hebrews 5:12

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Have you intentionally and purposefully set your heart to study God’s Word, to do it, and to teach it?