Join me as we read God's Word together and journal all the truths that He reveals. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Take God at His Word and ask Him to show you what He desires to teach you through the scriptures.

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Ezra began with earnest repentance and confession, and that led to a move of God among the entire population. The picture of the prophet weeping and throwing himself on the ground in remorse for the sins of his people is powerful—and perhaps one that we should recall as we come together to worship this weekend.

Confession of sin is a lost discipline. Public confession even more so.

We have embraced a culture of pride that is reluctant to admit any flaw in our character, when we should be confessing our failures and seeking the prayers and accountability of one another to overcome sin in our life.

William Newton Blair, in describing the Korean revival which occurred in the early 20th Century, is widely quoted as stating, “We may have our theories of the desirability or undesirability of public confession of sin. I have had mine, but I know that when the Spirit of God falls upon guilty souls, there will be confession, and no power on earth can stop it.”

Perhaps the converse is also true: If there is no confession, no weeping and brokenness over our divergence from following God, then let our prayer be for the Spirit of God to fall upon us all. May God’s Spirit reveal to our blind eyes, as He did to these Israelites, the things we have loved more than God, the instructions of God that we have ignored, setting our own wisdom as superior to God’s, and the behaviors and pleasure we have esteemed higher than being in right relationship with the Lord who redeemed us from death.

Will you join me in praying that God’s Spirit would fall upon His people today and reveal our sin?

Pray that our hearts would weep and mourn as Ezra did.

Pray that our lips would confess before loving brothers and sisters and that they would encourage and lift us up, hold us accountable going forward, and remind us that God’s grace covers all our sin.
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Pray that our minds would submit to God and we would turn away from anything He reveals to be sin.

This chapter and others that condemn Israel’s practice of intermarrying with the surrounding people groups have often been applied to interracial marriage, but that’s a distortion of both God’s Word and His character.

God’s Word makes it clear that the prohibition had to do with the religious practices of the people, not about the color of their skin or any other ethnic differences. The genealogy of Jesus’ earthly family proves God’s acceptance and blessing of marriages between an Israelite and a Moabite (Ruth) and between an Israelite and an Amorite (Rahab).

The prohibition had to do with behavior and with the Israelites remaining faithful to God, rather than learning to worship false gods because of influence from other people groups.

These passages have also been mis-applied to support treating people of other faiths with contempt or cruelty.

But that neglects Christ’s coming to open the way of salvation to all nations and tribes. Jesus made it clear when He spoke with a Samaritan woman by the well that our faith should cause us to extend mercy and grace to those in need regardless of cultural divides. Christ suffered on the cross to bring them into the family of God, just as He did for each of us.

How has God shown you mercy?

How can you extend that same generous grace to someone different from you today?
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How can we apply this scripture accurately, to keep our hearts and lives purely devoted to God?

As Ezra details the people and plans for their return to Jerusalem, he makes a profound statement in verse 21:

“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’” 

He had made a bold statement to the pagan king, declaring God’s greatness and their faith in God to protect them.

But now the reality of the dangers they faced caused that faith to waiver.

He couldn’t go back and ask for the king’s help without revealing his own weak faith or suggesting that his God was not able to protect them.

So he called for all the people to fast and pray and ask God to watch over them on the perilous journey.

I can really relate to Ezra’s faltering faith. When God called Randy into ministry, over 20 years ago, I was filled with excitement and bravado about setting out on this adventure. But when God’s plan included removing almost every security blanket from our lives so that we would trust in Him alone, it was humbling to recall my own boldness.

Like Ezra, we couldn’t go back and say, “I know I said that God would provide for us, but….”

When God calls us to trust Him and pursue the adventure He has written for us, we have to hunker down in prayer, encourage one another with His history of faithfulness, and trust Him to cut a path through the wilderness.

What adventure is God calling you into?

What dangers lurk?
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How can I join you in prayer that God will protect you along the path as He did Ezra and his people?

God poured out blessings, through a pagan king, on Ezra and on the people of God who were returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. These were material blessings, gold and silver, livestock for sacrifices, grain and seasonings for offerings—everything they needed was supplied.

It’s easy to see from chapters like this where the prosperity gospel folks get the idea that God wants them to have a brand new private jet. God is generous in providing for His people and even urges us to test Him and see if He “will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Where the mark is often missed is in the prerequisite to that testing: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”

God’s blessings are for God’s purposes and not our own.

God pours out blessings on those who are pouring those blessings back out according to God’s purposes. The test of God’s generosity is not intended for those who are storing up for themselves, devoting God’s gifts to their own designs, and spending all God gives them on attempts at self-fulfillment.

King Artaxerxes’ generosity in providing for the building of the temple was for the express purpose of enabling the people to worship God. It wasn’t so the priests could live in luxury or so the Levites could lounge around without working.
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When we ask God to provide, is it “to spend it on our pleasures” (James 4:3)? Or are we asking God to provide to enable worship? Are we asking God to provide for the gospel to go out to those who haven’t heard? Are we asking God to provide so that we can proclaim His salvation to those who need to hear about His love and grace?

Tattenai must have wished he had not asked the king to help him stop the Israelites from rebuilding the temple. The king not only rebuffed the governor’s request, he commanded that all the expenses come from Tattenai’s revenues!

God knows how to put those who oppose His followers in their place!

I’m reminded of the stories of Haman from the book of Esther, of the Pharaoh who chased Moses and the Israelites into the Red Sea, of the Pharisees who Jesus rebuked.

And of the coming judgment foretold in Revelation.

So what about when that doesn’t seem to be happening?

What about when our enemies seem to have the upper hand?

Well, it isn’t because God isn’t able to defeat them.

It has to be because He has other plans.

Maybe His plans are to humble us.

Maybe He wants us to learn to forgive as we’ve been forgiven.

Maybe He wants us to demonstrate sacrificial love that wins over our enemies and draws them into the kingdom.

Maybe our ‘enemy’ isn’t so much a person as a circumstance: cancer, illness, poverty, injury, mental illness, or depression.

Rest assured, God is able to save us from any circumstance. We can pray in confidence, knowing that the only question is our understanding of God’s Will; there is no question of His capability.

As we pray for God’s salvation, whatever the opponent we face, we also pray for understanding of God’s plan.

We pray for victory over those intent on destroying God’s people, pray for safety and effective witness for those imprisoned, for freedom and boldness for those carrying the gospel, for wisdom and discernment for those serving in places hostile to their message.

We pray for strength as Samson did before pulling the temple of Dagon down on himself and the enemies of God.

We pray for provision as Elisha did for the widow as she used the last of her grain and oil to feed him, rather than herself.

We pray for acceptance of His Will above our own, as Jesus did in Gethsemane.
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What opponents are you facing today? How can I join you in prayer?

Even amidst opposition and pressure from the government in the region, the Israelites continued building the temple.

Yesterday, we noted that if we are following God’s direction for our lives, we will face opposition.
Today, let’s consider what our response to opposition should be.

The response of the elders of Judah provides a blueprint for us.

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and we are rebuilding this temple.”

They knew who they were and they knew what their calling was. We will never be effective in following God until we understand that we are His and until we grasp what He has called us to do with our lives.

Our ancestors angered God and He gave them over to captivity.

They knew their history. Acknowledging our own moral failures, both personal and corporate, is essential to moving forward. We can’t leave the past entirely in the past, because everything that exists today was built in that past and is a result of it.

King Cyrus issued a decree that the temple be rebuilt and returned all the gold and silver articles that Nebuchadnezzar had plundered. He freed the Israelites to return to Judah and rebuild the temple.

They knew what God had freed them from, and what their marching orders were when He did. To be effective in our calling, we must understand what God has done for us and why He has done it. Just as He gave the Israelites skills for building, He has crafted each of us, giving us unique gifts and talents, for the place in which He has set us.
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What is your calling? What gifts has God given you and how has He shown you your purpose? What are you building?

Make no mistake, when we are seeking to follow God and honor God, we will discover the same thing the exiles returning to rebuild Jerusalem found.

Opposition.

We’ll be opposed by those on our own team, the ones who are supposed to take direction from us, as they express dissatisfaction or lack of confidence in our leadership.

We’ll be opposed by peers who interject their own ideas for the project, either intentionally or unintentionally derailing us from God’s blueprints.

We’ll be opposed by those in authority who don’t agree with our strategies, feel threatened by our success, or have a different agenda.

Sometimes their opposition will bring our work to a screeching halt.

In that moment, when our goal seems far off and our dreams seem to be slipping through our fingers, we must cling to the knowledge that God is in control.

God’s timing is not our own.

But God’s plans will not be thwarted.

The Israelites had to hit pause on their building project.

But their story wasn’t over.
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Neither is ours.

When the elders of Israel saw the foundation for the new temple being laid, they wept. But others shouted for joy.
It’s all in our perspective.
Those who wept looked back on all that had been lost.
They mourned the exile
the division of Israel and Judah
the years spent in captivity and the destruction of the grand temple built by Solomon.
The younger generation, born in captivity,
rejoiced that God had set them free,
brought them to their homeland,
and allowed them to begin to rebuild.
Regardless of our age,
we have a choice of where to set out eyes.
We can dwell on the past, either with longing for earlier days or with mourning for all that we’ve lost.
Or we can look to the future,
to the promises of God,
and to the miracles we experience by His grace TODAY.
Both the weepers and the shouters stood in the same moment.
Their circumstances in that moment were the same.
The difference was entirely in their perspective.
How will I choose to view today, and tomorrow, and the next day?
Lord,
Let me reflect on the past only to repent of the ways I’ve fallen short.
Let me leave those burdens at the foot of the cross and not return for them.
Give me eyes to see Your new mercies each morning.
Give me joy in the day set before me.
Give me satisfaction in the work You’ve assigned me.
Let me be one who shouts for joy!

I often think of the exiles’ return from Babylon as a small band of Israelites, but this chapter tells us they totaled over 42,000! That’s the size of a large town!

As I dug in to this chapter, I had to really ask the Lord to show me the significance of these lists of names and numbers of family members who returned. It seems like a chapter that doesn’t have any particular spiritual significance, beyond the larger context of the return from exile.

But here is the detail God drew my attention to:

There were over 42,000 people, but only about 8,000 total horses, mules, camels, and donkeys. So the vast majority of the exiles returning were walking every step of the way from Babylon to Jerusalem. That’s almost 900 miles and took about four months for the huge caravan to travel through all kinds of harsh conditions.

That’s about the same as if I walked from my house to Saint Louis, Missouri. Halfway across the United States.

How far would I be willing to walk to follow God?

But that was just the first revelation.

Then God drew my attention to their freewill offerings of 1,000 pounds of gold and 3 tons of silver. I’m thinking some of them would have been perfectly justified in spending that gold or silver on a new donkey. Maybe one with AC and a sunroof.

These followers of God had lost everything when they were exiled and had to struggle to survive, but upon seeing God’s salvation, they were ready to give it all back to Him!
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“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21