Thought of the Day !!

Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.

                                                                         Ezra 3:3 (NIV)

The people of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the people of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) have been conquered and exiled into foreign lands.  The Babylonians, who conquered Judah, where Jerusalem and the Temple were, have now been conquered by a Persian king named Cyrus.  And just as Jeremiah had prophesied, he is allowing the Jews to go back and rebuild their land.

That brings us to Ezra 3:3 when they get to Jerusalem.  These people have come back to a destroyed city where the people of the surrounding lands are not faithful to their God and would love to have the riches that were brought back to Jerusalem to be used in the rebuilding process.  In other words, it's not necessarily safe there.

The first instinct might be to fortify, to build a wall, to make a means of protection for themselves and all the riches that have traveled back from Persia.  But instead, they do something else.  They build the altar.  They worship the Lord their God.

Our God should come first before all things in this world.  He is the one who can protect.  He is the one who can sustain.  He is the one who can provide.  But even though we're not in physical danger every day, there are many things that take precedence over our relationship with God through Christ Jesus.

Let us seek our God and His righteousness first.  Let us seek out Jesus as Lord of our lives each and every day.  And let us live our lives for Him.

In the love of Christ,
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