{"id":4142,"date":"2009-03-06T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-06T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/april2009\/?p=31"},"modified":"2009-03-06T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-06T04:30:00","slug":"ezra-822-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/2009\/03\/06\/ezra-822-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezra 8:22"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers<br \/>\n       and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because<br \/>\n       we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is<br \/>\n       upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his<br \/>\n       wrath is against all them that forsake him.&#8221;<br \/>\n              &#8212; Ezra 8:22<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A convoy on many accounts would have been desirable for the pilgrim<br \/>\nband, but a holy shame-facedness would not allow Ezra to seek one. He<br \/>\nfeared lest the heathen king should think his professions of faith in<br \/>\nGod to be mere hypocrisy, or imagine that the God of Israel was not<br \/>\nable to preserve his own worshippers. He could not bring his mind to<br \/>\nlean on an arm of flesh in a matter so evidently of the Lord, and<br \/>\ntherefore the caravan set out with no visible protection, guarded by<br \/>\nhim who is the sword and shield of his people. It is to be feared that<br \/>\nfew believers feel this holy jealousy for God; even those who in a<br \/>\nmeasure walk by faith, occasionally mar the lustre of their life by<br \/>\ncraving aid from man. It is a most blessed thing to have no props and<br \/>\nno buttresses, but to stand upright on the Rock of Ages, upheld by the<br \/>\nLord alone. Would any believers seek state endowments for their Church,<br \/>\nif they remembered that the Lord is dishonoured by their asking<br \/>\nCaesar&#8217;s aid? as if the Lord could not supply the needs of his own<br \/>\ncause! Should we run so hastily to friends and relations for<br \/>\nassistance, if we remembered that the Lord is magnified by our implicit<br \/>\nreliance upon his solitary arm? My soul, wait thou only upon God.<br \/>\n&#8220;But,&#8221; says one, &#8220;are not means to be used?&#8221; Assuredly they are; but<br \/>\nour fault seldom lies in their neglect: far more frequently it springs<br \/>\nout of foolishly believing in them instead of believing in God. Few run<br \/>\ntoo far in neglecting the creature&#8217;s arm; but very many sin greatly in<br \/>\nmaking too much of it. Learn, dear reader, to glorify the Lord by<br \/>\nleaving means untried, if by using them thou wouldst dishonour the name<br \/>\nof the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}