Ezra 2:1-70
2:1-67 Almost 45,000 people returned to the kingdom of Judah. After a time of discipline, repentance and learning, God opens the door for us to walk into new, or former spaces. With fresh perspective, renewed appreciation and a whole arsenal of faith and wisdom grown from the season of discipline, we become better able to maintain our blessings.
God's intervention always stems from love and restoration. His work prepares and equips us to have joy and keep it. Our lifestyle must be able to house and support our blessings otherwise they slip out of our hands. Judah had lost theirs but God determined it was time for them to rebuild.
2:68-70 The elders of the houses began, with what they had, to gather money to restore the House of the Lord. They did not have much and they were only newly freed but their priorities were righted. They acknowledged and served their Sole Provider. As children of God, the quality of our lives depends on how deeply our roots are embedded in faith, in God, our source of life and every good element of it.
God calls for our obedience because the more precisely we follow His instruction, the precisely we can be blessed. God does not force His authority or boast it out of selfish or arrogant motivation. He utilizes the trust we put in Him, in His way, to do amazing things in and with our lives.
