Ezra 6 - Count Your Blessings

Ephesians 1:3

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

One of the reasons that we fail to experience the joy of God is that we forget the provisions and protections God has provided. We focus on our pain, our loss, the difficulties we face, our failures, and the hurdles we face in life. That leads us to discouragement and a loss of hope. We get overwhelmed with the difficulties of life and neglect to look up and see the providential care and provision of God.

In Ezra 6 the people of God had reason to fear. They had people in power questioning their right to rebuild their temple. They had reason to be discouraged. They had been exiled for seventy years and only a remnant of their people returned to the land. Their city and their temple had been leveled. The prospects before them were discouraging and overwhelming, but for the providence of God.

They needed to remember God providential care. In Ezra 6:1 the pagan king cared enough to make a search of the official records. A memorandum is found in Ecbatana (Cyrus’s summer home– vss 2-4). Even after seventy years the gold and silver vessels for use in the temple had been preserved (Ezra 6:5). King Darius supported Cyrus’s earlier decree to pay for the rebuilding of the temple. Things could have turned out very different but for the providential care of God that led Cyrus to decree the rebuilding of the temple, that led Babylon to preserve the temple vessels, and that caused Darius to take the time to research and support Cyrus’s decree. God providentially cared for his people in the midst of potentially dark days.

They needed to remember not only God’s providential care, but his providential provision as well. In Ezra 6:6-7 permission was given to rebuild the temple. The cost of building and continuing worship was covered by official funds (Ezra 6:7-8). Further, the king asked that the people of God pray for him (Ezra 6:10). In return he guaranteed their protection (Ezra 6:11-12). God provided for the rebuilding and worship from an unusual source. A pagan King protected and provided for all they needed. That was the providential care and provision of God.

When we are overwhelmed with life and discouraged by the challenges we face, we need to change our focus. We need to remember the providential care and provision of God. Instead of counting our difficulties, we need to  count our blessings. Written in the late 1800’s by Johnson Oatman, a lay preacher who penned over 5000 hymns, Count your Blessings became one of the most loved hymns during the Welsh Revival of the early 1900’s. Perhaps we should practice the truth of this song more often.

Count Your Blessings

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!