Ezra, Part III

Through the first two parts of Ezra, we see God move kings and leaders and provide for those in His will, and we see how those who have come into the promise of God should respond upon arrival to that place— in both an initial posture of worship and the building of practices that will cultivate life-long worship.  In Part III of my insights on Ezra, we see how life inevitably brings opposition to those moving in God’s will, and how we should respond.

At the end of Ezra Chapter 3, we find the Israelites in a moving corporate demonstration of worship where (verse 13), “No one could distinguish the sounds of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.”  This verse adds, “And the sound was heard far away.”

From my own personal experience, whenever I have achieved a great spiritual victory, there always seems to be some negative repercussions afterwards.  It’s as if a land mark event in your life makes a larger target in the enemy's sight, like the way the pyramids might better show up in a sniper scope, and that landmark becomes the next gathering point for the forces of darkness and destruction.  Ezra Chapter 4 seems to demonstrate this principle by showing the reaction of the people around the Israelites to the loud sound of corporate worship.

Ezra 4:1-4 (with a few parts left out for the sake of time) says:

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord [Ace’s thoughts here: they must have literally heard them], the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him…”  

But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God.  We alone will build it…”  

Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.  They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

This passage demonstrates how the enemies of Judah and Benjamin first tried to sneak in the back door and “offer to help” but probably secretly sabotage the Israelites’ efforts.  It might have been tempting to accept the additional help, since many hands make for lighter work, but the leaders said to them that comforting though the offer many be, they would have no part in something that would ultimately lead to their destruction.

It is harder to find a present-day analogy for this part of the story, but I would ask how many times we compromise in trying to do God’s will in a short-cut way— our own easy way— when ultimately that will lead to disobedience?  How many times do we reach for instant-gratification when patience or wisdom should mark our steps?

When the people of Judah said no to compromise and yes to doing things the Lord's way, their enemies attacked, “setting out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.”  I feel often times this is why a spiritual victory seems to always follow with a feeling of attack— when we are doing  what we’re supposed to do, the enemy tries to discourage us by making it feel daunting.  

Sometimes, we won't just be discouraged or afraid, though.  The opposition will be so hard that we will feel defeated.  The enemies of Judah actually managed to get the whole temple-rebuilding-operation shut down for quite some time.  Ezra 4:24 says "the work on the house of God… came to a stand still.”  How about that for a feeling of utter defeat!  But, did people of Judah give up?  No, eventually, Zerubbabel and Joshua started rebuilding the house (Ezra 5:2), continuing to be obedient to the will of God.  5:5 says that “the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews”, making me wonder if it was because of their obedience despite opposition.  Whatever the case may be, the government officials who had shut down the building because of the trouble-makers eventually investigated the whole situation, and ultimately (unknowingly), upheld the sovereign will of God.  God willed it, so it would take place, and the government officials then decreed in Ezra 6:7 “Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God.”

What we can take away from this passage of scripture is: If we are obedient to the will of God despite our circumstances, and press into the things of God despite opposition, God’s eye will watch over us— He will make a way, and we will succeed.