No Matter What Season, Expect Resistance

I think our biggest problem as people of faith is the assumption that everything is going to work out in our lives with ease after we become Christians. Sure, we will deal with pain and loss, but we should of course expect smooth sailing when we humbly seek to do the Lord’s will. Right? 

Nope. 

Expect resistance at every season of the Christian experience. I bring your to Ezra 4. The recently returned exiles have set about rebuilding the Temple. The foundation has been laid, the sacrifices have been re-inaugurated, and their leaders are upright men seeking the glory of God. Surely of all people, they deserve some peace and quiet as they set about to do God’s work. But that’s not what happens at all. 

Ezra 4:1-2 (ESV) Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel, [2] they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

Resistance comes from their adversaries. As soon as they hear of the building, the enemies of Israel seek to infiltrate the movement and bring their compromised worship practices to bear in the newly formed enterprise. The reason this is bad is because these people would have been those idol worshippers assigned to the land by the Assyrians during their conquest. They were half-breeds and half-committed to the Lord. Their influence would have led Israel down the same path that led them into exile to begin with. 

Ezra 4:3 (ESV) But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Zerubbabel the governor will not allow it. Case settled, right? Nope. 

Ezra 4:4-6 (ESV) Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build [5] and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. [6] And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Discouragement, bribes to frustrate and accusations against their efforts to those in charge… The common tools of our enemy in the pursuits of our faith. When we set about God’s work, we can expect the same. Please hear this so that you aren’t surprised, if the Devil attacks you, you may be doing exactly what God would want for you. 

The bad news for the exiles, the work is indeed stopped and the enemies of Israel seem to have won the day. When Ahasuerus reads their letter he ceases the work on the temple.

Ezra 4:21 (ESV) Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me.

Ezra 4:24 (ESV) Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Now you have to slow down and read the text here. Because the work is stopped and seemingly stopped for good. The time between this decree and the second year of Darius is 16 later! Could you imagine this 16 years? It would seem like all hope for the Temple was lost. I imagine they felt totally defeated. And yet in the next chapter, Darius will change everything. In fact, during this 16 years, Darius ascends to the throne after a long civil war. he brings both peace and a benevolent spirit to the Jews under his domain.. You could say, what looked like the enemy winning was really God just reconfiguring so that Israel could get to work in peaceful conditions and with government assistance (Ezra 5). 

In our lives, we are going to be attacked AS we set out to do God’s work. It won’t matter how humble we are nor how noble our ambitions might be. God’s people must expect resistance in every season but also know that God is working it out for our ultimate good. 

We get to study these texts in rapid succession, but the Jews had to live them out. So when you’re living in one of those pause seasons, consider, your next chapter is coming. You may not know when, but it’s coming. And God will be faithful to execute matters in your favor. 

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