God Holds The Rook Card

Ezra 6:7-8 -  Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.  Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.

 

King Darius had done the research… and he saw with his own eyes the serious command of King Cyrus.  So he wrote a letter right back to the people who tried to halt the building of the Temple…to let them know that the Israelite’s story was true.  The records he found tucked safely away in the protected vaults of Babylon...even specified the size the Temple was to be…and the building material they were to use.

 

I can just see the twisted faces of the enemy as they were read the message from the king….that not only told them to leave the Israelites alone…but to help them.  They were to pay for the materials…and provide animals for sacrifices. The king even placed a curse on anyone who went against his decision.

 

I am reminded by this story that God’s will is supreme.  God’s will trumps all authorities….all nations….every evil that we can conceive.  Anything that has and will happen will be allowed only if it can be used to bring about the perfect will of God in the end.

 

Many other Bible characters recognized the sovereignty of God.  Job admitted to God in a fervent prayer of grief and pain in Job 42:2 ….   “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”  And Paul wrote to the struggling church at Ephesus in Ephesians 1:11-12…. “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

 

God is sovereign and holy and greater than any other thing or creature that exists. God is in complete control of every good and every tragic thing that happens in our life. Revelation reveals the ending folks…satan loses cause God holds the Rook card…and he will play it when he has already decided that it will bring about the most glory to his father.  

 

Father…thank you for reminding me once again that you have complete control of everything that happens in this world you have allowed me to live. Forgive me for the times I fail to remember your sovereignty….and let the world trick me into doing the wrong thing…because it seems easier…or more politically correct.  Help me this day to stand strong until I get that letter from the humans you have allowed to run your world for a short time….that they found in your great word…and realized that you are the one God who can help and correct the mistakes of the past. Use me to spread the great message of hope and love to all around me…while we wait for your return. Amen.