“Arise for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it” (Ezra 10:4).

As you know I spent last weekend in Orlando, Florida attending the Crown College Board of Trustees meeting. It was an enriching time filled with energy, excitement and vision for the future of the College. The Board of Trustees is filled with very impressive people (with one exception). The group includes business men and women, various ministry leaders as well as a variety of influential people from around the country. I am impressed with their humility, self sacrifice and passion for what they do. 

In quiet moments of interaction with them, they often seek time with a pastor (that’s me). I am continually blessed by my private interactions with them. Yet one thing that comes across fairly consistently is their need for others to encourage them in their roles as leaders. In other words, leadership is lonely. I can speak to that first hand. 

In that light, the words of Ezra 10:4 spoke to me. Let me set the context for you. Ezra was a contemporary of Nehemiah. God charged them both with overseeing the construction of the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Ezra tended to the priestly aspects of the job, Nehemiah the actual construction. Ezra was a very impressive individual. Earlier in the book we read this about him; “Ezra was skilled in the Law of Moses. . for Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” 

At a very strategic moment Ezra became aware of the degree to which the people had transgressed the Law of Moses through intermarriage with the pagan peoples of the Land. At one point he said, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my fact to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.” As priest he knew what he had to do. He had to call the people together to confront them and call them to repentance. Earlier in chapter ten we read that he “prayed and made confession weeping and casting himself down.” He was overcome by the enormity of what he knew he had to do. This is where the verse at the top of the page comes into play. God sent a man Shecaniah, to speak to Ezra. He said, “Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.”

There is a significant lesson in this for all of us. Those who are in positions of leadership need others, men and women of faith, to provide encouragement, motivation and courage during the difficult and stretching times of leadership activity. God gave Ezra Shecaniah. I’ve had such people in my life as well. Would you pray that God would bring such people into your life? Even better, perhaps you are that person, directed by God, to speak the right words into the life of a “weeping leader.”