Today's devotion: 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. (NIV)
Taken from www.biblegateway.com
Had the enemies of the Jews had a change of heart? It would almost seem like the exiles should welcome these folks and accept their help in building the temple since they, too, worshiped the God of Israel. Since there were so few people returning from Babylon they could use all the help they could get.
My NIV Study Bible refers back to 2 Kings 17:41, which reads:
41 Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
The Israelites knew that these people were not fully worshiping the Lord, and that their other worshiping practices would cause the temple to be defiled. Because the Israelites refused their help, their enemies started a letter writing campaign to the king in an effort to halt the construction of the Temple. As so often happens, the king only listened to one side of the story and ordered that construction be stopped.
If you read through chapter 5, you will see that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah brought God's blessing and helped the rebuilding project get back on it's feet. At the same time they worked with the local government to prove that they had the right to be building the temple.
I have trouble knowing what to do in situations when things are going well and all of a sudden a major roadblock halts progress. Did I misread God's direction and I am heading in a wrong direction? Or, am I doing things right and Satan is trying to block a good thing? It's pretty critical to understand which perspective is correct.
In the Israelites case, two prophets came to explain God's wishes. In our case we can talk to strong Christian role models, read our Bibles for direction, and pray for God's clarity. If we are to stop work, we'll receive peace from God when we do. If we are to push through the roadblocks, we won't have his peace until we move ahead with the plan! It may require some additional work (such as the letter the Israelites requested from the governor), or the implementation of plan B, but God won't leave us alone until we get back to work.
When is the last time you faced a roadblock when you thought you were on the correct path? How did you respond? How did you know if you should stop work or keep pushing through the difficult times?
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