A Remnant’s Return
One Year Bible (Aug. 5)
Ezra 1:1-2:70
A Remnant’s Return
Exile: “The state or a period of forced absence from one's country or home”.
Have you ever been forced to be out of your home, community, and away from your family, church, and all that you hold dear for an extended, unknown period of time?
A word picture for our generation comes on the TV often as we see the faces of the people of Ukraine who have fled their country without anything except their lives. The picture of a baby stroller by a train station awaiting the mama’s arrival in a strange country by the generosity of strangers sticks in my heart. They have lost all that they possessed and have little hope of ever returning in their lifetime.
I can’t begin to fathom their depth of pain or level of loss, but I do know what it feels like to live in adverse situations for more than a year without the knowledge of whether I would return home again and have ALL of my family together. Returning without our daughter wasn't an option for me...
I was living on chairs, little metal cots, couches of sorts, and even a hallway floor for a few nights, and it sure seemed endless-- like being “stuck in time”!
Seven years ago, my daughter had hip surgery that required complete immobilization for months. She could not bend her body at all and had all kinds of complications with this surgery. She also had to learn after months, how to stand again and then to walk. I wish that I could say this was our only near-death encounter, but it was not!
One year ago we spent an entire year in ERs and in hospitalization. Things often went from bad to worse before we began the long journey back home. Praise God we made it back. All of us. Together.
One thing that I learned during this intense time is that sometimes the people that we “count on” and think will ALWAYS be there for us… ARE NOT!
At the very same time, we are surprised by the people that we NEVER expected or dreamed of coming to our rescue. They are the very hands and feet that God uses to RESCUE us… Then there are people who are complete strangers to us that become like “angels unaware” who are there at the precise moment we need help and can not help ourselves.
One of the examples of this took place on a night that I was spending in an ER with my daughter. It was our fourth all-night ER visit that week…No one that I knew had any idea that we were back in a hospital again as it seemed like things were beginning to turn around. Our daughter had her second feeding tube out and was beginning to drink on her own again… and now THIS….
It was about 3 am and I received an instant message on my cell phone. These messages continued for a very long time. It was a sister-in-Christ who I had known during my childhood from my home church. She too is a mama and has gone through struggles of her own. She was awakened in the middle of the night and wrote me… little ol’ me. Now mind you, she lives on the other side of the country and we hadn’t talked in a very long time!
Did you know that God’s technology surpasses all cellular networks and then some?
Yesterday our story left us hanging as King Josiah was warned to not get involved in another nation’s battle, but sadly he did just that, “But Josiah refused to listen to Neco to whom God had INDEED SPOKEN, and he would not turn back”.
(2 Chronicles 35:23)
Why oh why didn’t he listen? Why didn’t he consult God? I get how the last four evil kings didn’t listen, but not Josiah, a godly king. This decision cost him his life! The perils of not listening to God are great!
Now, we are beginning the book of Ezra, and right in the first verse, we see, “In the very first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the LORD fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. HE STIRRED THE HEART OF CYRUS to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom.” (Ezra 1: 1)
What a powerful beginning of our new study in the book of Ezra...HOME FINALLY HOME!!!!
Ezra is a scribe, scholar, and a direct descendant of Aaron the chief priest (Ezra 7:1-5). He was a priest and scribe in his own right. His zeal for God and God’s laws will help bring the people “home” to the God they love and establish his Temple, laws, and ways. He has answered the call and is one of those unexpected blessings that will turn this entire situation around.
The book of Ezra lets us know that there were two separate time periods following the 70 Babylonian captivity when the people returned from exile. Ezra 1-6 covers the first return of the Jews led by Zerubbabel. This is a 23-year period beginning with the edict of Cyrus of Persian that ended with the rebuilding of the Temple. The second section of people returning from exile begins in Ezra 7-10 (more than 60 years later) and picks up their story as Ezra himself leads the second group HOME.
Was God’s power thwarted by King Josiah’s human mistake even though he was a godly man and great king?
Was God limited from fulfilling his prophecy for the return of his people given through Jeremiah years before their return?
Was God able to stir the heart of a king who was not even “one of his own” followers?
He was NOT limited when HIS own did not follow. Nor, was He limited when by a king who was not a follower!
Why do we focus on humans that sometimes disappoint us, when our God has HIS WAYS of taking care of us? If all of our loved ones came through for us, we would probably place our eyes on THEM, instead of HIM.
God’s power through “A Remnant’s Return” should remind all of us of his great love for even his most broken people; HE specializes in broken people who need to find their way BACK HOME!
