What is Your Platform?

I want to draw your attention to the word PLATFORM in the reference verse for this post.  That word has been, shall we say, my bread and water, for many years.  You see, my husband worked offshore for Shell Oil Company, and of course, a platform had been built in the Gulf of Mexico specifically for more than a hundred men and women to live and work on. The purpose for these workers being on the platform was to drill for and produce oil.  Without the platform and hundreds more like it, and their purpose for being on it, you and I would not have electricity, a car to drive or hundreds of other things that make our life as comfortable as it is.  For that, I have a heart filled with gratitude.

But, what about Ezra?  Why was a platform especially built for him and what was its purpose?  

Before answering that question, let me refresh your memory with the time period in which this takes place.  The Babylonian captivity was over and the Jews were coming back together as a people and establishing their natural heritage in Jerusalem.  However, they had a big problem: the walls were down surrounding Jerusalem, which, of course, meant they could not be unified as a people, nor did they have protection from their surrounding enemies.

Nehemiah felt called by God to rebuild those broken down walls that had lain in ruins for years.  He accomplished this feat in 52 days.  I don’t know about you, but I love reading about Nehemiah’s stand to “rise up and build broken down walls in the midst of persecution.”  It helps me to see that in my life today, no matter what the circumstance is, I, too, can rebuild the walls that have been torn down in my life.

But, recently as I was reading Nehemiah for the ump-teenth time, I couldn’t get away from the fact that a platform had been built especially for Ezra to do a particular job.  I won’t hold you in suspense any longer, and tell you the purpose for which that platform was built for Ezra.

He read the Word of God to the people for 6 hours.
The Bible tells us that as Ezra read, the people wept, worshipped,
and went home rejoicing.

You see, though Nehemiah was the main builder who restored the broken down walls, it was Ezra who was the most learned interpreter of the Law, and the man, more than any other, who shaped the returned exiles into the people “of the book.” 

Now, please allow me to make a few points from Ezra’s life for women who desire to become all God created them to be: 

1. A platform has been built especially for you.
2. No one else can stand on that platform.
3. It was made for you in order to fulfill the plans and purposes that you were uniquely designed by God to do.
4. As you stand on your platform, many needs in people’s lives will be met.
5. They will go home rejoicing.

My question to you is this?  Is there anything keeping you from standing on your platform?  I encourage you to go for it.  People are waiting for you to burst upon the scene.