“For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:9-10)
The new year is a time of reflection, renewing, and resolution. No matter what we believe in or where we come from, something in our humanity recognizes the boundaries of time — that our days are limited in number, precious in newness. We want to escape the old year — the weight, weakness, and weariness of our past — and begin a new one, full of excitement, promise, and opportunity. In this hope, we endeavor to change.
What if I told you that you could experience the hope of newness every day — not just once a year? And that this newness wouldn’t fade in a few weeks, lost to the practicalities of our human life? What if I told you that you no longer need to resolve to improve yourself, or be frustrated when you fall short?
The hard truth that we must all face is that no matter how hard we try to improve ourselves, no resolution or lifestyle change can sustain a true change or move; no year can be new forever. You can try everything to live the best possible life, but living the very best life in Babylon is still just a life in Babylon — it’s a life in a place we will never be satisfied; it’s a life that will grow old quickly. But when Ezra initiated the return to Jerusalem, he made a physical move: on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylon, and four months later, he came to Jerusalem. Indeed, the Bible says he began to “go up from” Babylon and “came to” Jerusalem; there is a “from” and a “to,” a movement upwards!
The wonderful news is that this movement requires nothing of our own effort. But it does involve a relationship with a Person who changes our position, who moves us from the old to the new in a reconstituting and renewing process. Ezra set his heart to seek the law — the Person — of Jehovah. And as a man after God’s Person, Ezra, by nature, could be renewed day by day, with a real, physical move and even a true, effective “doing.” In this way, Ezra’s move from Babylon to Jerusalem wasn’t by his own hand; it was according to the good hand of His God upon him. God initiated the spiritual move; Ezra simply executed.
The answer to all of our resolutions isn’t to try harder or do more this year. The answer is to set our hearts on this Person, the very One who brought us out from Egypt in the first place, always with the intention to bring us back to Jerusalem to build. And today, in the New Testament age, we don’t need to journey many months between our Babylon and our Jerusalem. Each morning that we awake, we can turn to Him, seek after His Person, set our hearts, and execute His desires. And this doing is effortless, because while laboring for improving our lives in Babylon is wearisome and vain, enjoying our Lover, Creator, and Savior in Jerusalem and building His house is ever new, ever life-giving, ever effortless.
This year, let us have a new hope and new promise. And not just January 1st, but each day of 2024, we pray: “Lord, today is our first day. Change our position. Initiate this move in us. Bring us up from Babylon; lead us to Jerusalem. Reconstitute and renew us; make us fit for the building. We set our hearts to seek You. Prepare us for You. Come back soon!”
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 12/31/2023, not reviewed by the speaker.)