Daily Sacrifice, February 29 (8:22)
“For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him”— Ezra 8:22.
THERE was nothing wrong in asking for a guard of soldiers in order to protect the caravan which included besides men, so many defenseless women and children, as they wended their way across the open spaces to the land of Palestine. But Ezra felt that for him to ask such a guard would be out of harmony with his declaration that God Himself was all-sufficient to protect them from every foe. Therefore, he called the people to prayer and fasting, and in the strength of the Lord they went forward, counting upon God’s all-protecting arm instead of looking to any humanly-devised means of security. The result was they were carried through in triumph—something that always takes place when the soul depends on God alone.
—John Newton.