Ezra 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HEAVEN NOTICES WHEN WE TRUST

Jesus once went to the house of a little girl who had just died. Mourners were gathered at the door. “’Why are you crying?’ he asked them” (Mark 5:39). You see, when we see death, we see reason to cry. When Jesus sees death, he sees deliverance. That was too much for the people to take. “They laughed at him” (v. 40). You’re not going to believe what Jesus did next. He threw the mourners out!

You know, God is still busy casting out the critics and silencing the voices that could deter you. Some of his work you’ve seen, most of it you haven’t. Only when you get home will you know how many times he has protected you from mocking voices of unbelief. He knows you and I are blind. I think that’s one reason he raised the girl from the dead. Not for her sake—she was better off in heaven—but for our sake, to teach us that heaven notices when we trust.


Ezra 3

The Building Begun

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled into their towns, the people assembled together in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, went to work and built the Altar of the God of Israel to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it as written in The Revelation of Moses the man of God.

3-5 Even though they were afraid of what their non-Israelite neighbors might do, they went ahead anyway and set up the Altar on its foundations and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it morning and evening. They also celebrated the Festival of Booths as prescribed and the daily Whole-Burnt-Offerings set for each day. And they presented the regular Whole-Burnt-Offerings for Sabbaths, New Moons, and God’s Holy Festivals, as well as Freewill-Offerings for God.

6 They began offering Whole-Burnt-Offerings to God from the very first day of the seventh month, even though The Temple of God’s foundation had not yet been laid.

7 They gave money to hire masons and carpenters. They gave food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians in exchange for the cedar lumber they had brought by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, a shipment authorized by Cyrus the king of Persia.

8-9 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at The Temple of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, in company with their brother priests and Levites and everyone else who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity, got started. They appointed the Levites twenty years of age and older to direct the rebuilding of The Temple of God. Jeshua and his family joined Kadmiel, Binnui, and Hodaviah, along with the extended family of Henadad—all Levites—to direct the work crew on The Temple of God.

10-11 When the workers laid the foundation of The Temple of God, the priests in their robes stood up with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise God in the tradition of David king of Israel. They sang antiphonally praise and thanksgiving to God:

Yes! God is good!
Oh yes—he’ll never quit loving Israel!

11-13 All the people boomed out hurrahs, praising God as the foundation of The Temple of God was laid. As many were noisily shouting with joy, many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first Temple, when they saw the foundations of this Temple laid, wept loudly for joy. People couldn’t distinguish the shouting from the weeping. The sound of their voices reverberated for miles around.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, January 22, 2021/2014
Read: Exodus 6:1-13

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips[c]?”
Family Record of Moses and Aaron

13 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Footnotes:

    Exodus 6:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai
    Exodus 6:3 See note at 3:15.
    Exodus 6:12 Hebrew I am uncircumcised of lips; also in verse 30

Insight
Today’s reading anticipates that Pharaoh will pit himself against the living God. Inevitably, when a human heart stubbornly rebels against the sovereign God, conflict ensues. Fallen human beings still continue their rebellion against Him. Yet there is hope through the offer of redemption to all who repent and believe (John 1:12).

Bricks Without Straw
January 22, 2014 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

I will rescue you . . . , and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. —Exodus 6:6

Many of us face the challenge of working with limited resources. Equipped with less money, less time, dwindling energy, and fewer helpers, our workload may remain the same. Sometimes, it even increases. There’s a saying that sums up this predicament: “More bricks, less straw.”

This phrase refers to the Israelites’ hardship as slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh decided to stop supplying them with straw, yet he required them to make the same number of bricks each day. They scoured the land to find supplies, while Pharaoh’s overseers beat them and pressured them to work harder (Ex. 5:13). The Israelites became so discouraged that they didn’t listen when God said through Moses, “I will rescue you . . . , and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (6:6).

Although the Israelites refused to hear God’s message, God was still guiding and directing Moses, preparing him to speak to Pharaoh. God remained firmly on Israel’s side—at work behind the scenes. Like the Israelites, we can become so downhearted that we ignore encouragement. In dark times, it’s comforting to remember that God is our deliverer (Ps. 40:17). He is always at work on our behalf, even if we can’t see what He is doing.
Lord, please help me to trust You despite my
discouragement. I invite You to fill me with
hope through the power of Your Holy Spirit.
Let my life testify of Your faithfulness.
Times of trouble are times for trust.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 22, 2021
Am I Looking To God?
Look to Me, and be saved… —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved….” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me….”

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved….” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me….” Salvation is yours the moment you look.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.
The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 22, 2021
Your Backpack...Unpacked - #8880

We were on a reservation basketball court. Our On Eagles' Wings team of young Native Americans were there to share the hope they had found with their generation. Teresa would be the main speaker that night. The one carrying the heavy backpack around all night. She set it down when she spoke. And started pulling out . . . rocks. She said, "You know, a lot of us spend our life carrying around an invisible load like this. A backpack full of rocks from our past - rocks we don't have to be carrying any more."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Backpack...Unpacked!"

I know what a lot of those rocks might be labeled. "Regrets." The things we wish we hadn't done - maybe thought we'd never do. The things we wish we had done - and now it's too late.

I'll tell you one time when the weight of those rocks of regret get a lot heavier. When someone you love dies. Regrets are part of the sting of grief. Because grief surfaces the way we failed - or we think we failed - the one we love.

Two weeks after my Karen went to heaven, I wrote: "Lord, never far away are my regrets for the times I disappointed Karen. That I spoke harshly. That she just waited to talk with me when I work, work, worked." I know there were many times I put a smile on her face. It's the other times that add more weight to the grief. Regrets are heavy rocks.

I've discovered there are three ways to deal with life's regrets. The first is to confess them. To God. I had to dump my whole ugly backpack at Jesus' feet. Because He promised this in Acts 3:19, our word for today from the Word of God: "Repent...and turn to God that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."

The liberating news from Jesus is that, when He was dying on that awful cross, He was paying for every sin, every shortcoming of my life and yours. Including those that live in our memory as guilty regrets. Something powerful happens, my friend, when you apply what Jesus did on that cross to all the things you should or should not have done. That freedom and forgiveness becomes available to you the day you put all your trust in Jesus to be your Savior from your sin. Then it's a matter of learning to forgive what a perfect God has now forgiven. And leaving your backpack at the cross.

But there are two other keys to dealing with regrets. The first is to confess them. The second is to calculate them. Before you make a "feel good now" choice that you're going to regret for a long time later. That's why there's so much wisdom in the challenge Jesus gave us about how to make "no regrets" decisions. In Luke 14:28, He says, "First sit down and estimate the cost."

Oh, it looks good right now. But what's it going to cost you in your reputation, your family, in people's trust, in relationships, in your self-esteem, in your closeness to God, your collateral damage? The bill will last longer than the thrill. The time to think about the rocks of regret is before they happen!

Confess your regrets. Calculate the regrets. And confront the regrets.

As a man who suddenly lost the love of his life in a single day, let me ask you this question. If this turned out to be the last day on earth for that loved one, that friend, what would your regrets be? What would you wish you had done? Or hadn't done? Well, thank God, they're still here. You can still make it right. Do it - while you can.

And if you've never brought your lifetime backpack of guilt and regrets to Jesus - never invited Him to be your Savior from all those sins - do that today. There's a lot more on our website about that, that will help you confirm that relationship with Jesus Christ. The website's ANewStory.com. It could be the beginning of your new story.

You've carried those sins long enough, those regrets. Jesus is waiting to take that backpack. See, He already carried what's in it to His cross.