1. Ezra 8:15–20 (ESV)
  2. Application

The outcome of planning

Ezra 8:15–20 (ESV)

15 I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi.

The kind of leadership that Ezra wants us to emulate is a leadership in which God is given all the glory. Ezra did not sit back and say, Well, if God wants Levites to come, he will bring them. No, he marshalled arguments. He sent his best men. He gave it his best shot! But the outcome was of the Lord. Man may plan, marshal arguments, scheme, and plot, but the outcome is of the Lord.1

Derek W. H. Thomas