21-22 "I proclaimed a fast there beside the Ahava Canal, a fast to humble ourselves before our God and pray for wise guidance for our journey—all our people and possessions. I was embarrassed to ask the king for a cavalry bodyguard to protect us from bandits on the road. We had just told the king, “Our God lovingly looks after all those who seek him, but turns away in disgust from those who leave him.”
23 So we fasted and prayed about these concerns. And he listened."
-Ezra 8:21-23
How often do we proclaim our faith in God but secretly have a plan B in place...just in case?
A few days ago I was so sick, Nyquil and I were in a Facebook official relationship. I went two full nights without sleep, which does some really odd things to your brain. I had a hallucination that my arms were made of tape and my bed was in the ocean. This detail has nothing to do with today's message, but it's so fabulous it would just be rude not to tell you. So around 3am I sat up and prayed to God for supernatural healing and rest. And as soon as I said amen I called my dad and took 15ml of rubbetussin.
I didn't even give God time to answer my prayer. I was sure God could heal me, but just in case He decided to drop the ball on this one, I took more nasty medicine and called my dad for reassurance that I would live through the night. Why is it so hard to resist our own urges to help ourselves? Shouldn't it be easy to give all that work to God, sit back and enjoy his guaranteed protection?
Ezra knew God would protect him, and refused to have a plan B. He fasted and prayed, resisting the urge to try and protect himself, and in the end, God always protects his children.
Many of us have been through life events that have made it hard to trust anyone, but turning our worries over to God is the ultimate solution to fixing our trust issues because He always protects, always heals, always loves.