THERE was nothing wrong in asking for a guard of soldiers in order to protect the caravan which included besides men, so many defenseless women and children, as they wended their way across the open spaces to the land of Palestine. But Ezra felt that for him to ask such a guard would be out of harmony with his declaration that God Himself was all-sufficient to protect them from every foe. Therefore, he called the people to prayer and fasting, and in the strength of the Lord they went forward, counting upon God’s all-protecting arm instead of looking to any humanly-devised means of security. The result was they were carried through in triumph—something that always takes place when the soul depends on God alone.
“Though dark be our way, since God is our Guide,
‘Tis ours to obey; ‘tis His to provide:
Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,
The word He hath spoken shall surely prevail.
His love in times past forbids us to think
He’ll leave us at last in trouble to sink;
The Lamb in His glory is ever in view.
The pledge and the proof He will help us quite through.
And since all we meet must work for our good,
The bitter is sweet, the med’cine is food;
Though painful at present, ‘twill cease before long,
And then how triumphant the conqueror’s song!”
—John Newton.