Today’s Reading: Ezra 4; Psalm 113
Scripture: Ezra 4:1-5
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, 2 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 since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua 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 for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us."
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They hired counselors 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.
Observation: At first glance, it seems like Zerubbable and Jeshua blew it here by responding so harshly to the non-Jewish people who offered to help with the rebuilding of the temple. But their reaction shows what was really in their hearts the whole time: they did not want the temple rebuilt. Their concerted action to "work against [the Jews] and frustrate their plans" reveal that they would have been doing this covertly (i.e. sabotaging the project) had they been allowed "to help."
Application: The enemies of God can sound and look good -- even friendly and helpful. But it is important to have spiritual discernment especially when considering who will be involved in important spiritual work. It is better to have a small force of true believers than a larger number salted with marginal or non believers. (Such is one lesson of the story of Gideon.) It takes courage and faith to say "no" to help, but it is what needs to be done if the help offered is not the right help. The Psalmist wrote: "I look unto the hills. Where does my help come from? [Not from the hills.] My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2 PMS Version*)
Prayer: Lord, You indeed are all the help I need. I thank You that You are always there and ready to help me when I need it. Give me Your wisdom and discernment to distiguish between the right and wrong kinds of help. May I remember to always call on You in my time of need. Thank You for Your great faithfulness, o God my Father.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
*The Pastor Mike Stipech Version is what I type out from memory. It may not be exact, but it gets the point across.
1 comment:
Good post. Mine was on the same topic. Discernment is key to not allowing the enemy access to us.
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