The King’s Kindness
27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, 28 and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. (Ezra 7:27-28)
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:
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 appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.3 Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! 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 Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:1-4)
I am so blessed by these passages in Ezra. There are things in life that only God can accomplish, things over which we have no control. In a day and age where I here so much fuss about who is in political power, or who is not. I am blessed by the fact that God can stir up the heart of any leader to accomplish His will. My old pastor preached a sermon on this very thing one time and what he taught me that day has stuck with me forever. He said, “God is not surprised by this. God is not standing up in alarm. Our God is sitting on His throne. He is sitting down and completely in control.”
I recall these words so often, because life just seems to be out of my control so often. I only have the power to deliberately change myself, and that is only accomplished by the strength and power of God. Jesus tells me that He is the vine, and that I am a mere branch, apart from Him, I can do nothing. This is one of the verses I need to remind myself of when I sense His leading. I am so prone to want to run ahead right away and try to start the work. Sometimes God stirs up my heart, but I still need to wait on Him for the power from on High,the power to accomplish the task He has laid on my heart. God’s timing is just as important as God’s choosing. I must wait upon the Lord and be of Good Courage, yes, I must wait upon the Lord. He is not bound by time, He does not measure by time, as I do. He will lead each one of us and stir up our hearts to accomplish His will, in His time.
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