Ezra 3 — Rebuilding the Altar and Temple
Ezra 4:1-6 — Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding
Ezra 4:7-24 — The Letter to King Artaxerxes and His Response
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
My prayer is for you to join me on this journey. Subscribe to this blog below to get an email when a new post is available.
Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
“Despite their fear of the peoples around them” (Ezra 3:3), God’s people build an altar to offer burnt and free will sacrifices. This is a joyous time of hard work. The young are excited to live out the stories they probably grew up hearing. They “gave a great shout of joy” but the “older priests and Levites wept” (Ezra 3:11, 12) when the foundation was laid.
Their weeping is significant to me. Such realization that much of their life was spent in captivity, far from God, they see what should have been. I imagine they said things like, “why didn’t we just obey God and enjoy worship…did we have to be exiled?” Sadly the answer was, yes! Sadly. The thought overwhelmed them and they are brought to tears. As I grow older, I wonder why I haven’t been serving Christ in full time ministry all these years. Why did I wait so long? No doubt God was refining me, but so many years! I only hope I can help others learn to completely trust in God’s favor when they’re young, so they can have a full lifetime of joyous celebration!