Because of their sin Ezra interceded for the people and his prayer gives us guidelines for our own confession and intercession.

Pain and disappointment make it difficult to take God at his word, but he patiently reminds us of his covenantal promises ultimately fulfilled in Christ. Through the One who perfectly trusted in our place we find our trust in the Father marvelously renewed and restored.

Sometimes the pressures of life are more than we can bear and we're tempted to respond in unbiblical ways. God's Word shows us a way forward, ultimately through the Lord Jesus Christ who bore the ultimate pressure on the cross so that we might be free through faith in Him.

Why did Moses not fully disclose to Jethro why he was leaving Midian? Why did God tell Moses to perform miraculous signs before Pharaoh when God also said he was going to harden Pharaoh's heart? Why was the Lord about to kill Moses shortly after he sent him on His mission? These are hard questions to answer, but they begin to make sense when we consider the theme of divine sonship- that God adopts us as His sons and daughters by grace, ultimately through His perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are all good at making excuses and raising objections when it comes to following the clear commands of God, but He deals patiently with us in His mercy through the grace of His Son who obeyed perfectly in our place.

Moses probably never dreamed that he would encounter the living God in a remote portion of the dessert, but God often comes to us in the barren places of our lives to show us that He is far more holy and far more merciful than we ever imagined

As Ezra saw with his own eyes how God worked over and over again, he became a God-centered man who developed three characteristics which we should also be developing.

Skills alone are not sufficient for the spiritual service God desires. He uses men and women whose character has been refined by His grace. The second forty years of Moses' life was a period of long, slow refinement which the Lord used for His ultimate glory.