By the good hand of our God

Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men; - Ezra 8v18

Ezra was an organiser. He had to be. There was a lot to be done in restoring worship to the land where for decades nothing had taken place.

He was wise enough to know that he had to have the right men in place so he sent messengers all over to collect the right people to do the work that needed to be done.

When they returned the brought back the right men. Ezra might have just accepted that and taken it for granted, but he didn’t. He knew the reason and was not afraid to acknowledge the reason.

‘By the good hand of our God upon us…’ he wrote.

I really like that. I wish I had that kind of nature. Maybe it is something that I need to work more on. I like acknowledging the hand of God in our everyday lives. Sometimes we can get so used to God working that we just take it for granted, but we would have nothing if not for the good hand of God in our lives.

God is good. We really need to grasp that truth. I think we all sort of acknowledge it, but do we really get it? Is it such a part of our lives that we give Him credit for what He does? It is easy to blame God or doubt Him when things are not going well in our minds so how hard can it be to acknowledge His goodness.

It is by the good hand of God that we face another day. It is by the good hand of God what our hearts are still beating. It is by the good hand of God that the earth still spins on its axis. It is also by the good hand of God when challenges come into our lives, for His very nature is good and He always does what is right.

Let’s me sure to remember the ‘good hand of God’ today.