The Easiest and Most Difficult Thing in the World

A life verse for me is Ezra 7:10. From that verse, I find a lot of identity and direction for my life’s vocation. Furthermore, though it’s a bit obscure, it has a lot to say not only to me, but to you as well.

Ezra 7:10 describes the characteristics of Ezra, who is a teaching priest and a scribe. It says, “For Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” One of the characteristics of Ezra that inspires me the most is that he “prepared his heart.” Though he was a “skilled scribe” and an able teacher and a studious priest, Ezra knew that his mind was not the primary organ through which to understand the Law of the Lord. He knew that God’s word requires a prepared heart.

A. W. Tozer writes about this need for heart preparation in his book The Knowledge of the Holy: “However brightly the light [of revelation] may shine, it can be seen only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it.” This reality both encourages me and challenges me. It encourages me because it puts the emphasis not upon the aptitude of the mind but the willingness of the heart. However, it challenges me because the heart is not always the most willing receiver when truth is hard. Tozer explains,

To know God is at once the easiest and the most difficult thing in the world. It is easy because the knowledge is not won by hard mental toil, but it is something freely given . . . . But this knowledge is difficult because there are conditions to be met and the obstinate nature of fallen man does not take kindly to them.

Knowing that our hearts may reject a truth it doesn’t like explains a little more why Ezra “prepared his heart” before he studied the Law. If we study without dealing with our “obstinate nature” then we may twist truth to fit our preferences. We’ll use our minds to build a bent theology rather than using our hearts to see God. Perhaps this is why James charges us to “receive with meekness the implanted word” (1:21). God’s word requires meekness. Without humility, we limit our receptivity.

In Jeremiah 36, God tells Jeremiah to write down all the prophecies he has heard. Jeremiah does this through his scribe, Baruch. He then tells Baruch to read the scroll in the Temple “on the day of fasting,” which is the Day of Atonement. When I read this recently, it caught my eye that Jeremiah wanted the scroll read on a certain day. Why? It wasn’t just the convenience of the day, knowing that all Israel would gather at the Temple. It was the condition of the day. Pilgrims would have gathered at the Temple in a certain frame of mind. The Day of Atonement is a somber, sober day of fasting where Jews humble their hearts in prayer, preparing themselves to hear God’s judgments. Thus, Jeremiah chose to deliver his words into that condition. He knew there would be a much greater chance they would receive his prophecies because their hearts were more prepared.

This makes me wonder if there are times when God withholds revelation until we are ready to receive it. Could it be that like Jeremiah God has difficult things to say to us? Could it be that He hasn’t said them, yet, because we’re not quite ready to receive them? Could it be that He’s waiting on the right conditions in which to deliver His word?

May each of us, like Ezra, prepare our hearts. Why? Because He has something to say, and our hearts must be ready.