A Prepared Heart

November 24, 2023 

“Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” —Ezra 7:10 

I’ve preached well over 2,000 sermons in the 40 plus years I was pastor. I can’t remember ever stepping into the pulpit unprepared. Of course, some sermons were better than others; some were, to put it mildly, forgettable. Cumulatively, I made it my goal to serve up a healthy meal from the Word of God so the people would be fed and strengthened to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. As I said, I prepared, putting hours into each sermon, researching, studying, writing, and editing. Preaching scared me; I couldn’t eat before preaching because my stomach was always in knots. Handling the Word of Life is not to be taken lightly.

This morning’s reading brought me to Ezra, who led one of the Israeli pilgrimages from captivity back to their homeland, and who supervised the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The above words jumped out at me. I always strived to prepare a sermon, but I wonder if I did as well preparing my heart for the preaching of it. Such preparation is more than academic study; it means allowing God’s Word to do its first work in the preacher. There isn’t much that is more vacuous as a preacher who can deliver words with an eloquence unmatched by humility and holiness. 

The heart is the target in preaching. I cannot reach someone else’s heart if the Word hasn’t reached mine first. Ezra sought the Law of the Lord, meaning, he sought God’s character, God’s revelation of himself. Once there, he sought to do according to the character of God, and finally, to teach others to do the same. Would that all preachers would follow Ezra’s example! The Church would be in much better shape. As for me, these words are a call to repentance for the times when I prepared the sermon, but not my heart.