Day 191: Ezra 1- Restoration~The Lord Stirs

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
 
2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
 
5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
 
 
Meditation
The Lord is larger than personal problems and global crisis. The Lord rules over everything- all governments, economies, rulers, elections, unrest, viruses, research, and the human heart. God’s plan for resettlement and restoration will be accomplished. The Lord redeems crisis.
 
God’s plan is evidentially seen in the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy seventy years earlier (1- see Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10). God offers present hope through His eternal power through which He keeps all His promises.
 
Cyrus, the most powerful person in the world at the time, was “stirred by the Lord” to send the exiles home after God had already “stirred up the spirit of the Persians” (Jeremiah 51:11; 2 Chronicles 36:22) to overthrow Babylon. God rules over homelands and hearts of rulers (Proverbs 21:1). Cyrus recognized God’s authority (2) and obeyed Divine direction for stewarding his authority to rebuild God’s temple in Jerusalem.
 
 
The nations “freely offered” (6) treasure for the refurbishing of the temple.  Returning exiles “whose spirit God stirred” (5) would return with treasure for the temple. God promised this, too (Haggai 2:7). God’s rule extends over both the motivation and the movement of all people- everywhere and for all time.
 
God rules history and no news headline today is happening without His foresight and oversight. God stirred Cyrus and citizens @ 586 BC to participate in His plan of redemptive restoration. God will work to redeem our current crisis too. How is He stirring your heart to participate?
 
Richly Dwelling
-God rules sovereignly over every authority, every part of history, every power, and every person. Do you believe this? If so, how does it offer hope?
 
-God’s people were returning to rebuild God’s place, the temple, for the right worship of God. We will discuss this more as we go through Ezra. For now, how do you see the Lord wanting to restore the worship of His people? How has He stirred your heart to participate?
 
-Pray for the Lord to stir the hearts of global government leaders and the people of the Lord for His work of redeeming the crisis today. Pray for God to give you a humble heart for faithful participation.
 
Key Verse
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.