5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: 6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Psalm 63:5-6
During the day, life can get beyond busy and our time taken up by everything we have going on. For me, it is taking care of my 3 year old granddaughter. Toddler years are the busiest, and it's amazing how this one little girl is more of a challenge than my four boys ever were. She is beyond active, and keeps me hopping all day. Most of the time when I'm working on these blog posts, it takes me a few hours to get a single one done, simply because I have to stop frequently for her. It is for this reason, before I go to sleep at night, I lie in bed and I pray and seek Him and meditate on what I've read throughout the day, and quiet my spirit so that I can hear what He has for me concerning the next post.
Yesterday, I began re-reading the book of Ezra as it is today's focal point and got hung up on the second chapter. The first verse says: Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city; Verses 2-70 lay out a detailed list the number of people from each city who returned, as well as the number of the animals they took with them, and the amount of treasure (finances). I kept reading, but my mind kept coming back to this chapter and its significance. It was in the quiet of the night, as I was meditating on the Word that God showed me which direction I was going to go and it is not the way I had intended. I was looking at God being our scribe and His Word being written upon the tablets of our heart. (I will save that for a different post.) Instead, He gave me a single word. RETURN. Ezra recorded every single person who returned out of Babylon to Jerusalem. So God has with each of us.
So who was Ezra? Ezra 7:11 tells us that he was a priest, scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord. Commentary from Dake's Annotated Reference Bible shows us that he was a man of great moral strength, learning, humility, self-denial, zeal, prayer and faithfulness to God and his people. He was a true priest from the direct lineage of Aaron. In other words, he wasn't just a smart cookie, he was strong in the Lord and faithful. Ezra chapter 2 he records the return. In total, 49,897 are on record returning to Jerusalem.
Jesus, too is a scribe, full of great moral strength, learning, humility, self-denial, zeal, prayer and faithfulness to God and His people. In fact, He is keeping a record of return as well. While we remain in a life of sin, we are a people in captivity, we are in Babylon. However, we accept Jesus as our savior and we RETURN to Him, He records our name in the Lamb's Book of Life and has record of our return.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angel. Revelation 3:5
My name is on a holy register of return. I am counted by the Son of God Himself, but I have to remain diligent and have the Word of God upon the tables of my heart. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3 Return, be counted, make sure your name is on the register, for He is returning, and without being listed in the Book of Life, we remain lost to Babylon.
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