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 ...