A Small Devotional - Ezra 1:1

"...the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia..."

- Ezra 1:1

All the might of the kings and nations of old was still in subjugation of the Lord of hosts. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, to fulfill the Lord's words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, to restore the Lord's people. Oh what a great, transcendent God we worship! He is the mover of nations, and the mover of hearts. He accomplishes his will through people despite our sin and rebellion. He is a Lord and king who remains forever faithful while we are still faithless. He is over people, nations, and nature itself! And he is not some distant deity, too distant and lofty to care for the needs of man, but he is moving and active in this world, stirring up even the spirit of the king of his people's enemy to work for His purposes.

And so dear brothers and sisters, why do you grow faint? Why do you despair at the difficulties of life? Why do you worry what the future holds? I will echo the cry of the priests of old "... remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you..." (Deuteronomy 8:2). Did you draw breath this morning when you rose from your bed? Praise the Lord, that was his faithfulness to you. Did the Earth spin and the sun rise in the sky this day? It was God that caused them to move and held them in their orbit. Does sin plague you? God himself added the nature of humanity to himself, living and dying and rising again to take not only the penalty of sin, but the power of sin from you. Brothers and sisters, let us live in the freedom of an almighty, transcendent, omnipotent God who, in Christ, has freed us from sin. Let us pray that the Lord would stir our spirit up, to love all that is of him and hate all that is of the enemy. Though the world may despise you and call you foolish, the God who moved the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia is moving the same for you.