Starved of the Word of God

"The joy of the Lord will be your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

At the time these words were proclaimed, the Israelites had just returned from captivity to Babylon. Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people had rebuilt the ruined walls of Jerusalem. Now they turned their eyes to the restoration of the temple and the restoration of the nation.

Nehemiah called for a special meeting at the gate of the waters inside rebuilt walls of Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 8: 1). The first thing they did then was the preaching of the Word of God. A hunger for the Word had developed among the people, so they did not need to be asked to listen. And they were fully prepared to submit to the authority of the Word, desiring to be governed by it and to conform to its truth.

Surprisingly, Esdras preached to the crowd for five or six hours. What an incredible scene. I think it would be difficult to see such a thing in the modern church. Yet true restoration can never happen without this kind of devouring hunger for the Word of God.

Do not be deceived : at the gate of the waters of Jerusalem there was no eloquent preaching. Ezra did not deliver a sensational sermon. He simply preached Scripture, reading for hours in a row and explaining the meaning. And, as people listened, they became more and more excited.

At one point, Ezra was so overwhelmed by what he read that he stopped to "bless the Lord, the great God" (8: 6). The glory of God descended powerfully and everyone raised his hands in praise. In repentance and breaking, "they bowed down and bowed themselves before the LORD, their faces on the ground" (8: 6). And then they got up to experiment even more.

There was no manipulation on the part of the one who was on the stage, no dramatic testimony. There was not even any music. These people simply had an ear to listen to all that God was telling them.

Beloved, I believe that the Lord desires to act among His people in the same way today. If we want to see this kind of awakening and restoration, we must have a hunger and an excitement for Scripture, as was the case for Ezra !

David Wilkerson