Ezra
4 reminds me of the difficulties people of faith encounter from those
that are in the world. We face resistance when we try to live
according to God’s standards. It seems those that wish to live as
if there is no God, preach acceptance of everything but God’s
truth. As the chapter begins, the small group of Jews has returned
to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. We see a few standard tactics used
by the enemies of faith. The chapter begins, “When
the enemies of Judah… heard that the exiles were building a temple
for the Lord, the God of Israel, 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“.
We need to be wary when those that reject God want to “help” us.
God’s standards threaten those that want to do their own thing.
They become like a mirror to the unrighteous clearly showing a
distinction. Wisely, “Zerubbabel,
Jeshua and the rest of… Israel answered, ‘You have no part with
us in building a temple to our God’ “.
I believe we can show compassion to those around us without
compromising our foundational beliefs.
Next
the enemies of the faith “set
out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on
building.
They
hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans“.
Intimidation is a tactic we see today at all levels. Threats of
lawsuits have forced the very mention of God out of our schools,
public areas and holidays. Discussions of philosophy, science and
even history have been hijacked by fear of being politically
incorrect. The local yokels that did not want Israel rebuilt,
“lodged
an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem“.
They appealed to the new Persian king with half truths, “the
Jews… have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and
wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the
foundations… if this city is built and its walls are restored, no
more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will
suffer“.
They continued their appeal to the king, “a
search may be made in the archives of your predecessors… you will
find… a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this
city was destroyed“.
What do you do when your faith is attacked?
The
Persian king responded, “I
issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this
city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place
of rebellion and sedition… issue an order to these men to stop
work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order“.
You can almost see the glee as the locals presented the kings edict,
“they
went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force
to stop“.
The chapter ends with what appears to be defeat. “Thus
the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until
the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia“.
Many times in scripture, we find two words that change everything,
“But God”. Remember the words of Joseph when he faced his
tormentors, “What
you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to
bring about this present result”
(Genesis 50:20). What will you do when you face resistance today?