Word-Filled Wednesday ~#55~ He Cares, Leads and Supplies

PASSAGE: "Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD . . . But the eye of their God was watching over the Jews, and they were not stopped . . . [Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates wrote to King Xerxes:] 'Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem' . . . A scroll was found . . . [it said] 'Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid . . . Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God . . . The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury . . . whatever is needed . . . must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven . . . I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.'" ~selected verses from Ezra ch. 3-6

LESSON LEARNED: Am I alone, or does anyone else ever wonder to yourself: "Lord, I thought I felt your nudge, I thought I heard You tell me to do something . . . but was I wrong, because NOTHING is going well, nothing about this is easy and 'the powers that be' are all against me. Did I really hear You?"

You do? Whew! I thought it was just me.

When the Lord calms my heart and assures me that, yes, I have felt His leading, then I need to get out my Scroll of Remembrance (Malachi 3:16) and let Him bring to mind all those past hard-fought-hard-won victories of my life. And victories hardly ever come easily or without fear or without opposition ~ especially if it is something that will ultimately bring honor and glory to the Lord.

I am particularly encouraged by the verse that says, "Despite their fear of the peoples around them . . ." When we set out to do something of significance for the Lord it can be a scary thing, it may seem that there are road-blocks around every corner. But if the project is truly of His making, then He IS with us and He WILL make a way. Look at how He ultimately not only made a way for the Israelites to rebuild their temple, but He even provided that those who were against them would pay for the whole venture! And there it was all in writing ~ in a decree from a king.

And we have His promises in writing, too . . . our Bibles. Through the whole Story, we are reminded that the Lord of All cares, leads and supplies.

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><