We WILL face OPPOSITION in doing GOD’S WORK!
May 15
Bible Reading: Ezra Chapters 4-6
We WILL face OPPOSITION in doing GOD’S WORK!
"Then
the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled
them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose
all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of
Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an
accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." (Ezra
4:4-6)
The events
described in the above passage illustrate the kinds of hostility that the Jews
faced sometime between 486 and 465 B.C. while rebuilding the temple of the God
of Israel. Any good work for God can expect opposition from Satan and his
cohorts. The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin (v. 1) were descendants of
colonists from other countries who had been planted in the land when Assyria
took the northern kingdom into captivity. These colonists had intermarried with
the Jews who remained in the land, and their offspring became known as Samaritans.
These Samaritans came to Zerubbabel and other
leaders proposing to assist in the rebuilding of the temple (v. 2), but for
them since Jehovah was only one of their
gods, their proposal was turned down
(v.3). This proposal was actually dangerous since it came under the guise of
true religion (2 Cor. 11:15; 2 Cor. 6:17). Angered by the refusal of the
Israeli leaders to allow them to participate in the construction project, these
Samaritans then tried to stop the
building of the temple. They probably threatened the people with physical force
and thus made them afraid (v. 4). They also hired counselors to lobby against
Israel at the royal Persian court to frustrate the Jews through the use of
scare tactics and tried to misrepresent the Jewish community. They also vented
their hostility by sending letters to Ahasuerus (v. 6) and Artaxerxes (v. 23),
and all these went on for a period of
fourteen years (v. 5). Thus, the work on the temple eventually came to a
halt (v. 24).
The
opposition against the work of God was not a brief and passing problem, but a
foretaste of prolonged opposition to the people of God in rebuilding God’s
‘house‘—the temple, but also the city and the nation. As soon as we start doing
the work of God and God starts to bless our efforts, the enemy starts to devise
schemes against us. Satan is the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy
(John 10:10) as he gets angry when God’s people unite to build!
In his
commentary on this passage, the great Bible scholar Warren Wiersbe has listed three weapons that Satan uses to destroy the
work of God:
- Cooperation (vv. 1–3). Remember that the
Samaritans were the “mixed multitude”
who would have corrupted the Jews and interfered with the work of God (Exod.
12:38; Num. 11:4). Beware of unsaved volunteers; they may be working for the enemy!
- Intimidation (vv. 4–5). Discouragement and fear
are effective weapons, especially when the work is already difficult. When we start
to experience fear, we should lean on Isaiah 12:2: "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For
Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'"
- Legislation (vv. 6–24). The people of the world
will use “official influence” to
hinder God’s work. They argued that Jerusalem had been a rebellious city and
the king would be concerned about taxes. Their logic and tactic worked, and the
construction was temporarily halted.
Let us always remember that our God is still at work, and we will always face opposition when we do God’s work! This is what Oswald Chambers has written for our benefit: “There is no need to fear; if we keep within the moral frontiers of God, we can say boldly, ‘The Lord is my helper.’”
