Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. They hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”
(Ezra 4:3-6)

“Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh. Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.”
(Haggai 1:13-15)

This same Ahasuerus is the king found in Esther. A king easily influenced by loss and gain of money. In the time of Esther, she was placed in a position to help her people. But at this time, who was there to speak for the people? Who was there to prove to the king they were not his enemies? No one stood up. The people – who were JOYFUL to be able to sacrifice and worship God properly again – let themselves be sidetracked. They stopped their work on everything. They lost their forward momentum. The cares of the world took greater view than the instructions of God.

God didn’t leave them, though. He sent a prophet to speak to them. So that they could see where their priority was. Yes, the king was forbidding them from completing the city walls. But he had not forbidden them from completing the Temple. The building itself and all that came with it: the re-establishment of proper worship. God encouraged them. He told them He was with them. He hadn’t left them. He was beside them. If they would do what He said, holding onto His word to them, they would be okay. [And they were. They completed the Temple and then God sent Nehemiah with the blessing of the king to complete the city as well.]

Summary

God’s words aren’t suggestions. When we are told to do something, we need to do it. It takes focus. It can be hard to avoid letting the things of the world dominate our sight. The issues standing in the way of success. But they don’t matter. Compared to God, they are nothing. If God has told you to do something, He has empowered you to do it and He has trained you in what you need to know in order to obey. His calling us is the last step. Because we are ready, He asks us to walk. Because we succeed IN HIM, we don’t need to worry about obstacles. We need to hold onto our JOY and walk in obedience hand and hand with Him. He is with us. No one can stand against that.