In Ezra 10: 11-12 the people of Israel confessed their sins and separated from the people of the land, and from their strange wives and children. This is not a panacea to vacate or neglect parental responsibility. Men of God as in the days of Ezra played active roles in educating God children. We must read and study the word of God in addition to attending Church because church attendance is not adequate preparation against the enemy.
We have neglected our divine duties or charge and are guilty of betraying God. We need wisdom in order to obey God’s charge. Daniel 2: 21 says God gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Colossians 2: 3 says of Christ Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The reasons why God invites us to perform a duty for him are many and varied.
To confirm our friendship with God
These are the ways by which both Abraham and Moses became friends of God. It is our turn to also become friends of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. James 4: 4 says do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Genesis 5: 24 says God took Enoch and walked with him. Genesis 6: 9 says Noah walked with God as a righteous and blameless man in his generation. In like manner, Jesus when he called the disciples said in Matthew 4: 19; Mark 1: 17 follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. When God calls us to a specific assignment, he shows his plan to have us partner with him in the kingdom business. In our generation today, we either want to think for God or tell him what is right. We must be ready for his instructions.
To preserve our lives
When God charges us to do something for him, he preserves our resources from getting wasted through our foolish pleasure. He knows the danger ahead of us, the blessings that await us, our strengths and weaknesses. He engages us with a responsibility so we may rather spend our lives for his worthy course rather than leading reckless lives. Psalms 90: 12 says, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
God often protects us from destruction when we obey by engaging us away from what could destroy us. God shifts our focus from what would destroy us. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts neither are his ways our ways, Isaiah 55: 8-9. God’s charge to us is to bring us to his expected future for us, Jeremiah 29: 11. When God sees us struggling, he intervenes with a charge in order to lead us out from our woes. 1 Peter 5: 10 says after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.
To assess our faith
Faith comes from our knowledge of Christ Jesus, Romans 10: 17. If we have faith in God, we will obey his word and accomplish his tasks for us. We cannot disobey Jesus and yet say we have faith him. The faiths of Abraham, Moses and Paul were tested by a charge and they passed. Will we also pass when our faith are tested? Faith is of the heart, not the sight or mind. We cannot please God without faith, Hebrews 11: 6. Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead, James 2: 17.
So, we only need to exercise our faith by believing in God and thereby accepting and delivering on any charge he has assigned to us. When we exercise faith, God glorifies his name as he did for Cyrus. Romans 6: 13 says do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. Do we have faith in God through Christ Jesus the way, truth and the life?
To edify his people
When we have sunk so low in faith, God intervenes with an assignment through which he builds and rejuvenates our sunken spirit. Deuteronomy 4: 43 says for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them. Sometimes we judge ourselves as feeble and unable to take up a duty for Jesus but the Lord is faithful and will give us the strength to execute the task. Joshua 1: 5-7 says of Moses, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
God fulfilled his promises to us. Numbers 23: 19 says God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should repent. Matthew 5: 18 says, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Hebrews 13: 5 says I will never fail you nor forsake you. Every move of God produces positive results for our good. It is time to trust him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Are we ready for the assignment God has for us? God will give us the grace and strength to do it. We only have to obey and to trust him and leave the rest to him to perform.
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, we have failed to honour your work that you have assigned us to do. We confess our unworthiness and our excuses for holding on to doubt and disbelief contrary to your word. Heal our unrighteousness and restore us by your precious blood for your purpose. We thank you Jesus Christ for an answered prayer, Amen!!
