Day: September 6, 2025

Ezra 4-6 and Psalm 137

Devotion by Sherry Alcumbrack (South Carolina)

Today our reading is from Psalm 137 and Ezra 4-6. I will start with Psalm 137 because it shows the depth of depression that the Jewish people were feeling after being taken into captivity. Imagine a foreign country coming in and destroying your homeland, with thousands killed and thousands exiled to foreign lands. Psalm 137:1 says: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept.” They also desire to see justice on the Babylonians.

As Ezra 3 ended it seemed like things were going well for the Jews. The foundation had been laid and there was great rejoicing. Then the enemies of the Jews who wanted to stop what they were doing started causing trouble. First they asked if they could join them because they were also seeking their God. Of course, this was a lie, they wanted to find a way to stop them by whatever means they could. But the heads of the households of Judah and Benjamin refused this offer. The people of the land scared them into stopping the project. During the reign of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes the rebuilding was put on hold because the enemies convinced those kings that the Jewish people would rebel against them if they allowed them to build their temple.

It was stopped until the second year of the reign of King Darius. In Ezra 5, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah enter the picture. Two men, Zerubbabel and Jeshua, answered the call and started to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Tattenai, the governor of the province, asked by whose authority were they rebuilding the temple. The Jewish people said they were going to keep on building until they heard from King Darius. They continued to do the work under the watchful eye of God, who was with them during this time. When asked who gave them the authority to rebuild, they said, Ezra 5:11b-12 “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.”

King Darius found the scroll from King Cyrus in Ecbatana and sent this decree in Ezra 6:7 “Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God on its site.” And it will be paid by the royal treasury. Ezra 6:12 says: “May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to change it, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence!” They finished in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. The Jewish people had not celebrated the Passover feast for around 70 years but they celebrated this event once again when the completion of the work was done on the second temple. Ezra 6:21 “The sons of Israel who returned from exile and all those who had separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate the Passover.”

Jeremiah 29:13 has always been one of my favorite verse:  And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” This verse was written during the time of the exiles but it is still relevant for us today. If you ever played Hide and Seek as a kid, the game wasn’t a lot of fun if the one searching leaves, causing the person in hiding to keep waiting. When we seek God, we never want to give up and walk away. We must continually seek Him, and we will find him when we search with our whole heart! He tells us that and we know his promises are sure.

Reflection Questions

1. Have you ever faced outside opposition when you were working on a project for God? What does it take to continue serving God when others want you to stop?
2. What did the ‘God seekers’ do right?
3. Do you seek God with your whole heart? Is there a part of your heart that is not committed to seeking God? Are there times when you give up the search?