January 25, 2011- Don’t Be Discouraged By What You See

It seems that from the edict of Cyrus around the year 538 BC that is was around 23 years or so to finish the temple. And maybe 93 years until the actual walls of the city were rebuilt. In this chapter the "bad guys" get the work on the temple to end for a time. It had to be very disheartening to the remnant of people who were part of the original group to travel home. They may have thought they misheard God or that He abandoned them. I wonder if any knew in their hearts that it was all about God and His plan and that He would finish whatever He wanted completed. I wonder if any knew Him well enough to say, "If it gets finished, it get finished, if not, there is a reason God stopped it?" The next chapter reveals how God made it continue. Those people had prophets to encourage them and they had to trust the words of those men. Think about how important it was for them to be TRUE prophets. Think of all the warnings of false prophets. You would think it would be easier for us , we have Word of God and His Spirit as our prophet. But many times we want more. We want to hear from human prophets again, we desire added info. My question is this...do we spend as much time getting to know God by seeking Him in prayer and study of His Word as we do begging for and attending services that spend their time trying to conjure up the miraculous. Really?  The written Word of the God of all creation and the work of the Holy Spirit is not miraculous enough? I think that if God is going to use humans, He will do it and other humans don't have to pray harder or worship louder or chant more to manipulate Him to do it. Anyway, back to the chapter…God does what He promises and even if there is no promise involved, He finishes whatever He wants finished and has reasons for anything He does not. It is our nature to freak at circumstances but it would do us good to remember what He has shown us in the Bible and throughout history. It is one reason why reading the Old Testament is so important.
New Powerpoint Background…Fishers of Men

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