Ezra 5:6-17 - Servants of the God of Heaven and Earth

Ezra 5:10-11 (ESV)

We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

These were God’s people, “servants of the God of heaven and earth” (Ez 5:11). Ezra 5:6-15 reveals certain characteristics of God’s people that we would do well to consider. The people of God were diligent. The governors writing to King Cyrus described the work of the people of God this way, “This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands” (Ez 5:8). God’s people were diligent. Faithfulness is an aspect of diligence. The work of God was priority for them and they faithfully carried it out. It makes me wonder how diligent I am. How would outsiders describe my commitment to the things of God?

But their diligence was not carried out in a self-sufficient manner. In Ezra 5:11 they describe themselves as “servants of the God of heaven and earth.” They recognized their dependence on God. The people of God were not only diligent, but also dependent. They were not building something to their glory, but to the glory of the God they served. Their diligence was really not because of their faithfulness so much as because of the faithfulness of God who restored them after faithful discipline. They expressed the humility of diligent dependence.

They also expressed the humility of confession and blessing. In Ezra 5:12 they admitted that “Our fathers had angered the God of heaven.” They acknowledged that they were offenders of God’s Law, covenant breakers who deserved God’s discipline. Too often we want to make excuses for our disobedience. There is always a reason why we didn’t do what we knew God wanted. “I couldn’t help myself; I didn’t realize . . .; I knew it was wrong but . . .” There is always an excuse, but people of God own up to their failures. They acknowledge their own personal responsibility, and with that acknowledgement they become recipients of God’s grace. Ezra 5:13-15 describes how the vessels of the temple were restored totally apart from their efforts. God put it in the heart of a pagan king to restore the temple. That is grace. Notice that in this passage the expression of grace is coupled the humble acknowledgment of sin on the part of God’s people. When we try to cover up or excuse sin we reap discipline and brokenness. When we humbly acknowledge sin we receive grace.

The characteristics of God’s people revealed in Ezra 5 are the humility of diligent dependence on God, and the humility of honest confession followed by blessing. Maybe it is time for us to stop trying to do things for God and humbly confess our failures, owning up to them. Maybe it is time for us to diligently get on with the work of God rather than the pursuit of personal peace and affluence, faithfully dependent on the God of heaven and earth. Maybe it is time that life stops being about us.