by walking in His ways.

I appointed twelve leaders of the priests--Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests--to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. (Ezra 8:24-25 NLT)

God provides (numerical) growth to those who worship Him.  That makes sense when you think about it for a moment.  God wants us to walk with Him.  God empowers and equips us with everything we need to do just that.

I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows: 24 tons of silver, 7,500 pounds of silver articles, 7,500 pounds of gold, 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins, 2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold. (Ezra 8:26-27 NLT)

We don’t know that we are empowered until someone tells us, though.  We don’t know that we are equipped until someone trains us to walk in His ways.  We don’t know that we can walk together with God until we have situations or circumstances where we can live it out…and then do.

And I said to these priests, "You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem." So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:28-30 NLT)

We go through tests and trials in this life.  These are the moments when we decide to trust God or not.  We decide whether we will turn to God or not.  We decide to walk with God or not.  When we do trust, turn to, and walk with God, we see the benefits and blessings that God gives us at the end of the trial.  We see the faithfulness of God through it all.

We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19 and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. (Ezra 8:31 NLT)

Only then do we know for sure that we are empowered and equipped.  Only then do we know that we will walk with God in those circumstances.  Only then do we have something to share with others.  God allows us to empower and equip one more only after we walk together with God.

So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days. On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold, and other valuables were weighed at the Temple of our God and entrusted to Meremoth son of Uriah the priest and to Eleazar son of Phinehas, along with Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui--both of whom were Levites. Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total weight was officially recorded. (Ezra 8:32-34 NLT)

How about you?  Do you walk together with God?  Do you see God working though you to empower one more?