It took a long time for the Israelites to commit themselves to the building of the temple, but finally, at the urging of Zechariah and Haggai, they once again got started.
And once again, almost as soon as they got restarted, opposition came.
This time it came from Tattenai, the governor of the Trans-Euphrates and Shethar-Bozenai, who perhaps was some sort of Persian investigator.
They questioned the Jews about what they were doing and under what authority.
After receiving the reply from the Jews, they immediately went to King Darius about it to see what he had to say.
The result?
Darius found the order originally given by Cyrus to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple.
Not only did he then order Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai not to interfere, he ordered them to help pay for it and to help provide for the offerings made at the temple as well.
It’s really amazing to me how God turned the whole situation around such that the people who had originally tried to cause trouble for the Jews, ended up helping them.
But it also shows me that when God calls us to do something, and we commit ourselves to doing what he has said, he will make sure that we will have everything we need to complete the job.
And if opposition from the enemy comes, he is more than able to turn the situation around so that our work can be completed.
The only question we need to ask ourselves is, “How committed are we to doing what God has said?”
Do we easily give up when things get hard? Or do we let other things in our lives such as the pursuit of money, the pursuit of possessions, or the pursuit of pleasure get in the way?
God has a great plan that he wants us to get involved in.
How committed are you to that plan?
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 