Safe Passage for our Children

I love the passage in Ezra where he boasts to King Artaxerxes that the God of Heaven is a protector of all who seek Him and the power of His wrath is against all who forsake Him.  It is one thing to say this however, and quite another to walk by faith in the midst of danger and believe it.  And that is what Ezra has to do; he has to now journey back to Jerusalem with the exiles, in the midst of those who would love to see him and his people dead.  So what does he do?

            "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, 'The hand of our God is for good to all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.' So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty."

            Fasting, prayer, and humility are powerful protectors--for ourselves, our children, and our resources.