One morning this past week I was reading in the book of Ezra, a small book located just after 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament. At the end of 2 Chronicles, it described how the nation of Israel fell through invasion by the Babylonians. The surviving Israelites were herded off to Babylon where they would spend a prolonged period of time there.
There were people that day who witnessed firsthand the temple of Jerusalem, a temple they had gone to many times to seek God and fellowship with His people, be pillaged, burned and fallen. How heartbreaking that must have been! I'm sure many of those people were mourning much like Jeremiah, in repentance and sadness, thinking that day would be the last day they could ever freely worship God in a temple.
Israel screwed up majorly. She was a nation chosen, rescued and blessed by God in so many amazing ways, and at the same time she was a nation that was so unworthy of that blessing. From the day she was rescued from Egypt onward, many Israelites complained, bickered, argued and rebelled against God. He could have very easily snuffed them out, but being a God who is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Psalm 103:8), He did no such thing until that day when He no longer could take their rebellion anymore.
Then in the book of Ezra in the craziest way possible, God opens up a door for the exiled Israelites to venture back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and city they saw get burned to the ground. Imagine being an old man, who maybe as a boy, saw the temple burn to the ground. Imagine the hardship he lived in as well while in Babylon, barely holding onto the God who loved Him. Then one day this boy sees what he thought would be the impossible: the temple he saw get burnt to the ground getting restored.
Ezra described the reactions of these old men: "But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid" (3:12).
No, I do not think those tears they were shedding were tears of mourning. They were tears of joy! Maybe some of them were praying fervently for decades that this day would come. And now....there it was! The temple that they knew and loved was being rebuilt!
So maybe you're someone who has been praying fervently for something amazing to happen in your life. Perhaps it's that a friend or family member can come to embrace Jesus Christ. Perhaps its financial troubles, sickness, or whatever. Maybe you've even been praying for some serious breakthrough in a ministry you serve in. My encouragement to you is this: KEEP PRAYING!
The all-knowing, all-powerful, completely sovereign God of the universe hears your prayers, and He can and will come to your rescue. Maybe it'll be instant, and maybe it'll be a process that takes decades, and you'll be an old man or woman when these things come to pass. Hey....that's okay! Regardless of this, rejoice that God is in control! Keep laboring for Christ and keep going. God will glorify Himself through what you're doing soon enough.
God bless you for your work!
Laboring with you,
Steve
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