Do It for Me

Ezra 5:1 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

The job was going undone.

The people had faded from the original assignment God had stirred their souls to perform. In chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Ezra, we read of how the Lord had called His people out of Babylon after 70 years of exile. They had left everything behind to follow after their hearts – just as God had called them to do.

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they encountered negatives which undid everything God had called for. In the first case, they found piles of destruction and rubble which made it impossible to conceive of ever cleaning up the mess left behind in the destruction of Jerusalem 70 years earlier, and in the second case they found themselves opposed by an unlikely source – those who had supposedly wanted to help them rebuild the temple.

Zerubbabel and Jeshua had wisely rebuffed the efforts of the Samaritans to lend a hand. (We can only suppose what might have happened had they allowed the Samaritans to join in the work.)

Well, it became pretty clear after they were rebuffed. The Samaritans became a thorn in the side of those called to build the House of God, discouraging the people, and even going as far as hiring professional counselors, (see lawyers,) to oppose their building efforts at every turn. We can just imagine those lawyers rearranging the zoning laws and over-turning building permits and so on and so forth. (Sounds very modern, doesn’t it?)

In the face of all the negativity the people simply wore down and wore out. They got as far as completing the foundation of God’s House, and then they simply quit. Too much opposition…For 20 years, the foundation of the Temple rested, waiting.

But is anything too hard for God? We ALWAYS have to remember what we have been told to DO.

The place for prophets of God is with the people, helping them. In this office and in this practice we find both Haggai and Zechariah, amidst the people who had returned to Jerusalem with a job to do for God. In all this opposition, God says, “Remember Me?”
- Pastor Bill