Ezra 4:1-24
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."
But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place with a long history of sedition. That is why this city was destroyed.
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
The settles offer help. They too now offer sacrifices to the God of this land. But the Jews will have none of it, and so the settlers stir things up, managing to stop the work for 15 ling years, until Darius is king.
Interrupt the chronological sequence to carry the account of the opposition through to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, nearly 100 years later. Here the bone of contention is the rebuilding of the city walls.
Why?
When God's work is going, there is enemy comes to interrupt. But God is the sovereign Lord. The time is in hands of the Lord.
What we can do is waiting for God, have trust in the Lord.
How?
Keep trusting the Lord, for it is started from the Lord, it will be ended by the Lord either. Do not afraid or frustrated to the trouble.
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