April 28th

April 28th -- Ezra 3:7-13 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra%203:7-13&version=NLT)

The people begin to rebuild the temple

*Note, this is wayyyyy later than the last passage. A whole other exile has happened between then and now.

The people hire masons and carpenters and bought many cedar logs. They began constructing the temple in midspring during the second year after their return to Jerusalem from exile. The work force was made of everyone who had come back from exile. Any Levites there who were twenty or older were put in charge of overseeing rebuilding the Lord's Temple. When the foundations were completed for the temple, the priests put on their robes and took their special places and began playing their trumpets, while the Levites clashed their cymbals. This was all to praise God, and they sang "He is so good! / His faithful love for Israel endures forever!" All the people gave a shout to praise God because the foundation was laid for the Temple. The older people, however, wept when they saw the foundation. Everyone else was shouting, so the shouts and weeping mingled and could be heard far in the distance.

They rebuilt the temple. It was not as glorious as Solomon's before it was, (hence why the elders wept - they knew it would not be as beautiful as the one they had known before), but it was a Temple all the same and God saw their hearts for wanting to rebuild it. For some reason, this reminds me of the constant battle we face with sin. Every time we give in and sin, it's like our "temple" for God is knocked down. When we repent, then, we rebuild it. However, we recognize that that "temple" isn't as good as the one before it, because it's surrounded by rubble of the "temples" before that have fallen. God, though, looks at it and sees merely a "temple". He doesn't care if it has the same number of decorations, or if it's a bit dusty from the rubble around it. What He cares about is the fact that you bothered to rebuild that "temple". Like the Israelites, you didn't have it be knocked down and just go "Oh, well, too far gone to be helped. No point in trying." Like the Israelites, we need to pick ourselves up and fix it - or rebuild it if need be. Each time we sin, we take a "brick" off our "temple wall" and each time we truly repent, we put one back on. When we're living for God, those "bricks" just pile higher and make those "walls" taller. The taller the "walls" are, the harder it is to take a "brick" down. The longer you go without sinning, and the longer you resist temptation, the easier it is to do so. You stop taking so many "bricks" off, because you don't want to undo all you just did - instead you work on just piling them higher. So, even when your "temple" seems like it may not ever make it back to where it started, never give up - just keep trying. God knows your heart, and He will bless you when it is right with Him.

That's all! God bless! Shalom!