I am convinced that I’ll never stop being amazed at the way God orchestrates timing, particularly the way I come across just the right Scripture passages at just the right time. It’s not like He rearranges the Bible every night. Still somehow He has year after year and situation after situation had me at just the right place in the Word to get what I needed for the day.
We returned yesterday from District Council (Network Conference) 2022. As always I enjoyed my time visiting with fellow servants of the Lord and worshiping together. In the midst of my joy I also faced again the heart rending reality that I am still in the waiting, the in-between. I really am OK with that, but still, there are places of my heart that a tiny touch can elicit a river of tears. For those places I practice surrender.
This morning reading Ezra I was encouraged once again. Exiled people of Judah had returned. They did not come up with this plan themselves. God had initiated the move by stirring the heart of King Cyrus of Persia to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. It must have been exciting for the exiles. Jeremiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled. 70 years of exile had been completed. It was time to move forward.
The people rebuilt the altar and reestablished morning and evening sacrifices and festivals. Then they set to work rebuilding the temple’s foundation. Once the foundation was finished, they had a celebration. Finally! They were back in their homeland worshiping their own God. Soon the temple would be complete and then they would really celebrate.
Or would they? Opposition that had been ever present finally succeeded in gaining the ear of King Artaxerxes. The temple reconstruction which began by order of King Cyrus was stopped cold turkey by King Artaxerxes. How frustrating! They had to wait . . . again! We are not talking wait a month or two for supplies to arrive. We are talking delay without end in sight. No doubt some wondered what God was doing. Had God really been in this?
The work remained at a standstill until the 2nd year of King Darius of Persia when people responded to words from prophets Haggai and Zechariah by returning to the work. Opposition arose yet again and it seemed they would score another victory by their letter to King Darius, but God. It was God’s time. Not only was the work allowed to continue, but the opposition was forced to help pay for it. What’s more, by order of the king anyone who violated the decree would have his house demolished and be impaled on its beam!
Abba, you certainly know how to complete the works you start. May I be always faithful in the waiting.
If you, like me, are in a season of waiting, I recommend this song by John Waller, “While I’m Waiting.”
To the Ends of the Earth 