Ezra 5:2 (ESV)
Then
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began
to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were
with them, supporting them.
Galatians 6:9 warns believers, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” But circumstances change. Doing good gets hard. Opposition arises. We get weary. In Ezra 5 the work on the temple had stopped for some time. Looking at the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah we see that the people had become more interested in building their own houses than in building the house of God. Sometimes we get tired of doing without. Sometimes we get tired of giving, working, serving, and leading, especially when those around us do not seem to have the same commitment. Sometimes the world around us changes and outward opposition to us causes us to wonder whether it is worth it. This is just reality. So then what? Do we just give up? Do we push on, getting more and more weary and bitter? How do we deal with this growing disillusionment?
God’s people are to be about God’s work, but sometimes we get tired. Sometimes we get discouraged. Sometimes we come to the place where we are just ready to quit. That is the point where we need to stop and look back at the faithfulness of God. It is not about us. It is about the faithfulness of God. When we get our eyes on us and others we get weary. We need to remember the power of God’s word. We need to read it through fresh eyes. We need to come to the Word crying out, “God speak to my spirit today.” Too often when we are weary we read simply because we are supposed to read, but God’s Word is powerful. Let it speak to our hearts. We need to remember the strength of God’s blessing and the overwhelming goodness of God’s grace. In our weariness we have become focused on our weariness and others faithlessness. Our eyes are in the wrong place. It is like trying to drive across a bridge with our eyes fixed on the guardrails. Odds are we will hit the rails. But if we keep our eyes on the center of our lane ahead we will stay on the road and cross safely. We need to fix our eyes on the blessing, goodness, and grace of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside
every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, [fixing our eyes on
Jesus] the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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