Wednesday – History

Reading – Ezra 5-6

Highlight Verse:

“But because their God was watching over them, the leaders of the Jews were not prevented from building until a report was sent to Darius and he returned his decision.”
‭‭Ezra‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Politics has been around for as long as there have been people.

This chapter is a classic example of when something gets overlooked during the change of administration.

We all can get on our political soap boxes and gripe about politics.

But God’s work goes on, even when things don’t go our way.

In this case, the work on rebuilding the temple began during the reign of King Cyrus. When Darius took over, he could have put an end to the work.

Fortunately, Darius allowed the work to continue despite the efforts of those who opposed it.

Things don’t always go our way politically.

In the early church, Herod started killing off Christian leaders and oppressing the church because it made his constituents (the Jewish leaders of that time) happy.

What looked like defeat to the early church turned into the catalyst to spread the Gospel around the world as believers were scattered.

Of course, we should always seek to bring the values God prescribed for us into our government.

But when the tide seems to turn against us, we should also keep our eyes open for what God wants to do in that situation.

Often, the greatest advance of the Gospel is made in times where it is resisted the most.

Like the remnant of Israel, we should continue the work of the Gospel regardless of the resistance.

How have you seen God work in times when everyone seems to be pushing back against you as you seek to do God’s will?
Does encountering resistance to the Gospel make you work more or less to advance the Gospel? Is the same true when you encounter little or no resistance to the Gospel?