Today’s reading: Ezra 1; 1 Timothy 5
Ezra 1 is such a humbling and encouraging smack in the face for all the times I have felt like I needed to take things into my own hands, instead of trusting God with them, because, “How could God possibly make this work if I don’t do this thing here?”
It is an easy thing to say, theoretically and theologically, that God has all resources available to Him and can accomplish truly anything He desires, but it is another thing entirely to trust Him in the midst of suffering, or even just in the midst of daily life. How much easier would it have been for the Jews in Babylon and Persia to plot their own escape back to the land instead of waiting on the Lord? Where could salvation possibly be coming from against the mightiest nations in the world? Sure, He could pull out some more plagues like He did in Egypt, but Persia is so much bigger and more powerful than Egypt ever was, so would that even work? But then, instead of marching in at the head of a powerful army, and instead of bringing destructive plagues on Persia, God simply “stirs up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,” and he sends every interested/wiling Jew back to Jerusalem with provisions for the journey and with supplies to rebuild the temple!
God had never forgotten His promises to His people, and His arm was not too short to accomplish His word. For as much as Christians today love to illegitimately apply Jeremiah 29:11 to themselves, it was to the exiled Jews that God declared, through Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” And when God makes a promise, we can always count on Him to be good for it.
Having just read Daniel, and specifically thinking about the words of Gabriel, that he had been dispatched to bring Daniel word but was held up fighting the prince of Persia until Michael, one of the chief princes, came to his aid so that he could come and deliver his message to Daniel, it leaves me with an amusing picture in my head. I imagine the spiritual forces of Persia holding back the spiritual forces of Yahweh, locked in a tight contest, neither side getting the upper hand, and then Yahweh just strides right past them, entirely untouchable by His opponents, as He steps in to touch the heart to Cyrus and then stride nonchalantly right back through the stunned combatants.
Nothing will ever be too difficult for our God. Time will never make Him forget His promises, and He will never be distracted by “more important things” and fail to bring His word to pass, no matter how great or small the promise may be. He is infinitely reliable, infinitely resourceful, and infinitely powerful. Who could possibly be more worthy of our trust than Him?
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