When in doubt, persevere!

Background

This week I have been reading the book of Ezra. The book begins with a strong and positive start for the people of Israel.

Ezra 1:1-4 says:

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophesy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of king Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it through his kingdom:

“This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord the God of heaven, has given me all of the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointment to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you! Wherever this Jewish remnant is found, let their neighbours contribute toward their expenses by giving them silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock, as well as a voluntary offering for the Temple of God in Jerusalem.”

The people of Israel then embark on a journey back to Jerusalem to fulfil the command of king Cyrus.

I encourage you to read the whole story but I will summarize it for you. The people of Israel begin to rebuild the temple of God starting with the altar so they could offer burnt offerings to the God as instructed in the law of Moses. The building of the temple was the responsibility of every Levite 20 years and older and the work on the foundations began 2 years after the people of Israel returned to Jerusalem. As the people of Israel worked the enemies of Judah and Benjamin began efforts to disrupt the building of the temple of God and they bribed agents to frustrate the plans of the people of Israel and to put them off their work. Further down the line, the enemies of Gods people wrote a letter to king Artaxerxes, who was now ruler of all the Persian provinces, to advise him that the people of God were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and rebuilding its walls. They advised him to have his aides look through the royal journals and bring out the records of the rebellious nature of the city of Jerusalem and how it was a problem city that would incite rebellion in the province against the rule of the king. The king heeded their warning and instructed that the city should not be rebuilt unless expressed by his command. Although the letter sent by the enemies of God’s people had falsely accused them of rebuilding the city, its claim was strong enough to cause king Artaxerxes to halt the building work and thus the rebuilding of the temple of God had to cease. The work remained at a standstill till the 2^nd year of the reign of king Darius of Persia.

Following a prophetic word from Zechariah and Haggai the people of God resumed the work on the temple and they were not prevented from doing so until a report was sent to king Darius and he returned his response. The enemies of the people of God sent a letter to king Darius which included a report from the people of Israel which explained their purpose and a request for a search of the royal archives to find the decree of king Cyrus. The result of this letter was that king Darius returned a further decree that allowed the people of Israel to continue with the rebuilding of the temple and also that those who had opposed them in the past were now under a royal decree not to disturb the work and more over the were instructed to pay the full construction costs from the taxes collected and provide the priests in Jerusalem with whatever is needed to for burnt offerings. They were instructed to provide them with as much wheat, salt, wine and olive oil as they needed each day to ensure they were able to provide acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the welfare of the king and his sons. He decreed that anyone who violated his royal decree would have their house destroyed and reduced to a pile of rubble.

Following this the temple is successfully rebuilt and dedicated.

As I stated, this is a summary of what happened from chapters 1 to 6 but I urge you to read it to appreciate the inner workings of this account.

Opposition

I’ve said it before and I will say it again; being called by God does not mean you will not face opposition, it actually increases the amount of opposition that you will face. It does not mean that you will have a smooth trouble free journey to your goal, it means that you have a target painted on your back and every enemy along your path will take the opportunity to take aim at that target.

The people of Israel that returned to rebuild the temple of God did everything that needed to do and they did it by the book. They identified those who were of priestly descent and they looked through the books of genealogy and verified that these people were indeed of priestly descent before allowing them to partake in the rebuilding of the Lords temple. There is an account of three families of priests; Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai, a priest who had married a woman who was a descendant of Barzillai of Gilead and he had taken her family name. Their names were searched for in the genealogical records but were not found and therefore the were disqualified from serving as priests. They were not allowed to eat from the priests share of the food from the sacrifices until a priest could consult the Lord about the matter.

These guys were doing everything they could to ensure that they pleased the Lord in all their deeds in relation to this purpose they had been given. They did not want to anger God in anyway and have their purpose cut short.

No sooner had these faithful servants completed the rebuilding of the altar of God did the opposition start.

Sometimes it feels as if you take one step forward and then there is suddenly something that appears to push you ten steps back. Speaking from personal experience, the moment I began to get traction on my blog and my ministry the other areas of my life started to ramp up with challenges. Business, family life and personal growth all presented their own obstacles and challenges to take my time and attention away from what God called me to do. I found that I was slowly slipping back into old habits, shortened prayer time, obsessions over things that I had vowed to hand over to God and leave in his hands. Opposition does not always present itself and people who seek to frustrate your plans. Sometimes the most opposition comes from ourselves and our inability to block out the distractions of let go of the steering wheel. I liken it cars with assisted parking. The concept of having artificial intelligence handle parking your car seems like an awesome concept initially. It’s a great selling feature for any modern car so you go ahead and you buy into the marketing and into the technology and you purchase a car with this functionality. Now here comes an opportunity to use it and your heart starts beating at 100 mph. You start to think about all the things that could go wrong, you start to think about the insurance claim that could result if the AI fails to park the car correctly. You start to think about the hassle that would come with getting the car repaired, you think about the embarrassment of explaining that you didn’t want to park the car yourself or couldn’t park the car yourself so you choose to let the AI do it for you and all of a sudden you become reluctant you use this amazing technology. Lets say you get past this point, you start the process and the dash instructions tell you to let go of the steering wheel, put the car in gear and press the throttle. In your head all the alarm bells are going off and you are freaking out with panic and fear. If you do it, you realize that actually there was nothing to fear because the countless algorithms, scientific logic and expertise that has gone into developing this technology has thought of almost every scenario you can face and the technology is advanced enough to even assess if the parking space is suitable for your vehicle.

The opposition is your mind and your prior knowledge but your prior knowledge is based in the past, it is based on limited experience and most importantly it is based on your limitations. As it is with the car and the advanced technology, people who know more than you, countless scientific minds, years of research, years of development and years of testing have gone into putting that technology in place so you can sit back and take advantage of it. God has put everything in place for you to fulfil your purpose and unless you trust his guidance you can’t get your destination. If you interfere with the car whilst the AI is maneuvering the car the likelihood is that you will throw it off course and cause it to fail. It is even more likely that the AI will cut out and leave you to handle the maneuver. If you step in and try to take over the direction of God in your life then God will leave you to drive and he will not fight you for control. Like the AI, there is knowledge and experience outside of you that is greater than what you know, has a better assessment of the scenario and the circumstances around you, has a better view of the periphery and has control over your purpose. Our fear and our lack of trust is what causes us to try and take control and it is this type of opposition that is most common in our lives.

I am a massive fan of superhero comics and movies and usually in this genre, the hero has to face an opposition that looks more powerful, faster and intelligent than the hero. It looks like the hero has no possible means to vanquish his foe but in actuality he/she has everything they need within them and they need to learn to trust the power within them and get out of their own way. They have to allow the power to take control so that it can be unleashed in its fullest form and to its true potential. What is interesting is that only the measure of power needed to defeat the current foe is revealed. The truth is that as the obstacle becomes bigger, they tap deeper into their unused potential. So it is with the power of God in our lives. God will release the power we need to get past the obstacle and break through the barrier to get to a new level.

You may be doing everything that you need to do at your current power level but the truth is that God will allow life to reveal another area of opposition within you which you have to learn to let go of and let him take control. Sometimes it is your finances, sometimes it is your time, sometimes it is your marriage, it could be anything but as you grow with God the obstacle that arises will reveal the foe that you need to ‘power up’ to vanquish. Opposition is a natural enemy that you must learn to overcome, whether it is internal or external.

Unite and Persevere

When it looks like all the chips are down, what do you do? Well the people of Israel kept going and stuck to their purpose. They remained true to their goal and the command that king Cyrus had given them. They had a singular vision to complete the temple and restore it to its original glory in its original location. The text says that they came together with a unified purpose. They became a single unit which put aside all conflicting theories to complete their purpose.

Like the people of Israel we now share the same purpose as Christians. We want to build the kingdom of God. We all share the same purpose but unfortunately we are far from unified. We are separated by theology, ideals, cultures, race, denomination, political ideologies, financial status etc. The list is endless because in our human nature we will find any reason we can to disagree and therefore do things our own way. The reasons for separation are man made and have no real foundation but to satisfy the selfish agendas of the ones that put them forward. As I always say, thank God for his grace because without it we would all be nothing.

The concept of unity is not isolated to this one piece of text, rather it is a theme that runs through the bible because God wants us to understand the power we have in numbers with a singular mind and vision.

The bible tells us “one shall put one thousand to flight and two shall put ten thousand to flight” (Deuteronomy 32:30 & Joshua 23:10) and then in Matthew 12:25 it says:

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand”

That lesson is not just for the Pharisees but applies to us now at this critical time in the world. The body of Christ is divided by so many trivial things that have been borne of out of mans wisdom and intellect. We ignore the unifying facts that make us one body and one family. Pastor John Gray likes to state that the only color that matters is red, the color of the blood.

That is the underlying principle that drives the unifying facts of our faith:

• Jesus is the one and only son of God
• He was fully man and fully God
• He knew no sin
• He was the perfect sacrifice
• His blood bought our freedom from sin
• His blood redeemed us to our heavenly Father
• His blood paid the price eternally
• He went to the grave and rose 3 days later
• He conquered death and rendered it powerless
• The hold the keys to the grave
• He is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf
• Because of his finished work all men can receive salvation

We spend so much time focused on the smaller details and ignore the bigger picture. There is a work to be done in the world right now. There are people that need to know the hope that Jesus gives. There are people that need to know the freedom that the blood of Jesus offers and there are people that are crying out for a helping hand.

We, the body of Christ, the Church need to act in unity. We need to unite in prayer, we need to unite in action and in spirit. We are called to make a difference to this world by being there for the people who are in need, the people who are lost. There is no time for empire building. We are building the kingdom of God so we should be encouraging people who come to Jesus to find a bible believing Church, pick up their tools and get involved in the construction.

No longer can we hide behind the statement that the work of building the temple is the job of the Levites because we are told in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We are all priests and therefore we are all tasked with building the kingdom and just like the people of Israel in the book of Ezra we need to persevere. We need to unify with a single purpose (to build the kingdom) and persevere.

The perseverance of the people of Israel led to the support of king Darius and a royal decree that protected them from any disruption or distraction by third parties. When we honor God in the face of adversity he steps in and turns that adversity into a blessing. The people who were harassing the people of Israel became their building fund, the source of their offerings and anything they needed to offer and acceptable sacrifice to God.

I’ve heard stories from people who have chosen to honor God despite of their situation and as a result of it something amazing happens. People being forced to pay money which they did not want to pay at the time and it comes back to them doubled. People giving from their place of need and God opening doors that looked as though they were closed. I will ask for permission to share some of these accounts but they are numerous and I believe God truly does honor those who honor him.

I could have chosen to talk to you about faith here but instead I am talking to you about perseverance. There is a saying that doing the same thing and expecting different results is stupidity. I believe that sometimes our perseverance will look like stupidity to the world around us and sometimes it will look like stupidity to other Christians but the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:25 that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Your choice to persevere and exercise your faith may look like stupidity to everyone around you. You may be ridiculed and mocked for it but persevere. The people of Israel would have been mocked and ridiculed by their enemies as they continued to build even though their enemies had written to king Darius to halt their progress. They would have had people sneering at them and calling them foolish. They would have probably been called dead men walking because their enemies would have been expecting king Darius to order for their executions but their enemies did not account for the hand of God. Their enemies did not account for the grace that God had poured out in their favor. Their enemies did not anticipate the God would soften the heart of king Darius and endear him towards the efforts of the people of Israel. What their enemies had purposed for their destruction was repurposed for their blessing because of their faith, obedience and perseverance.

As I read the text a portion of chapter 3 really jumped out to me. It says:

Fifteen days before the festival of Shelters began, the priests had begun to sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord. This was even before they had started to lay the foundation of the Lord’s temple.

Even before the work had begun the priests were thanking God. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for but not yet seen and these people demonstrated their faith by sacrificing burnt offering before the foundation had been laid.

How about we take a leaf out of their book and start to offer God from what we have not yet seen? How about giving to that needy family as though you already have your paycheck from that job you only just applied for?

How about buying clothes for that baby that hasn’t been conceived yet because the doctors tell you that your cannot have children?

How about stepping outside of your current circumstance and stepping into your faith so that God can do what he planned and purposed to do?

Everything in your life is designed to be a testimony that gives glory to God. If there is something that is going wrong right now I dare you to smile, dance and shout for joy because it is just another opportunity for God to shine and show his power.

It’s time for us to stop being a microwave generation who expects everything in an instant. Look how long Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the child of the promise. Abraham did not see the many nations that followed but he saw the birth of it, he saw the seed that would birth the tree and bear the fruit.

David was anointed king as a young boy but he did not take the throne for decades. He was hunted, treated like a traitor and criminal but he persevered and honored God. God fulfilled a promise to him that his ancestor shall always sit on the throne and Jesus came from the lineage of king David.

Moses wandered the wilderness for 40 years with the people of Israel and he persevered to get them to the land that God had promised to give them.

Just because you cannot see it right now and you feel the pressure around you, it doesn’t mean it is not coming and it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.

When you apply pressure to carbon something amazing happens, you get a diamond. There is something special in you and the pressure is preparation for God to shine through you. There is a diamond in you and the pressure has come to release it.

Stand strong, fight and persevere.