Don't Just Say You Believe, Live It
Have you ever set God up to show up? Ezra did. And God showed up. I'm not talking about tempting God. As in, "God, I'm going to toss myself off this building, prove yourself real by saving me." No, that's tempting God and it is explicitly rejected in scripture. When Ezra saw that no Levites had accompanied the people back into the land on his return from Babylon, he had to send them to come and join the work. A temple without the Levitical priesthood is not operational and this would be a problem. Ezra cannot empower a spiritual reform if the spiritual leaders are not present for it! Ezra finds out that the Levites have located themselves in large numbers in a place called Casiphia, perhaps on the fringe of Babylon. He sends for them to come as many are willing... and the results speak for themselves... Ezra 8:18–20 (ESV) And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Shereb...