The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Ezra 1-3, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 9: Return: God Delivers His People Again
Background Information: Ezra 1-3, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23
Fifty years after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, the Persians are now the major world power and will largely dominate for two hundred years. The Persians pursued a policy that allowed conquered peoples to return their homelands and resume worship of their gods. The Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the temple. Ezra and Nehemiah tell this story. Another important historical situation is the ongoing unrest between Egypt and Persia. Many from Judah had fled to Egypt to escape Babylon, taking Jeremiah with them, all those years earlier. Now Judah served as a strategic border land between Persia and Egypt. Ezra is a book that tells of the fulfilled promises of God to restore his people to their land. It is not the ultimate fulfillment that the Lord Jesus brought (and will someday bring in fullness), but it is more evidence of God’s sovereign control over human history. Ezra begins where Chronicles ends. God moved in the heart of the King of Persia in order to accomplish his purposes. It was not just the king’s heart that was moved by God, but God also moved the hearts of all the various people who would be essential for the task of rebuilding. Centuries later, Herod would greatly enlarge the temple complex, but at this time the temple foundation indicated that it would be much smaller than Solomon’s Temple. As the younger crowd cheered wildly for the work of God in their time, the older crowd wept loudly as they remembered what had been. Some had been alive to see the first temple, and now after years of exile, they grieved to see the meager beginnings of the new temple, now a symbol of what they had lost. Perhaps they wept not just for the diminished “glory” of the second temple, but for all the loss that their sins had brought them. Few, if any, people will get to old age without deep regret. Some who live long lives find their final years filled with nothing but regret. If you are young, live faithfully–do not stack up regret for the future. Mess up, fess up, and move on every single day. If you are old and feel the weight of regret, or even young and already filled with regret, leave that regret at the feet of Jesus. Feel what you feel, but believe what is real. God’s mercy is new every day, even when we feel the years-old regrets of past sins and mistakes. Rejoice in the work of God in your life today. If you are still breathing, he is not done using you.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray for Joey & Lia, living in part of South Asia experiencing riots currently. Pray for the hope of the gospel to go forth among their people group.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.