12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now 13 I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. Ezra 7:12–13
What does God’s provision look like? It starts out with “perfect peace.” All barriers and restrictions are removed, and in areas where there need to be limits, they are more than reasonable (7:22). The king, Artaxerxes I, starts by saying any “who are willing” may go back to Jerusalem, and, with his blessing. There were two reasons to “go in peace,” the king had granted his permission, and more importantly, to do so would be “according to the law of your God which is in your hand.” (7:14)
At this point in Ezra’s story, 80 or so years had passed since Cyrus had issued his decree to rebuild the temple. It was high time for it to be “adorned” (7:27) and made fully functional, and God used a powerful “king of kings” to finish the job. There was even more liberty granted to do “whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold…according to the will of your God.” (7:18) For perspective, 100 talents of silver amounted to $4 million at today’s prices and weighed some 7,500 pounds.
Rarely do you hear someone confident that the Lord will provide the funds necessary for something they set out to do. It takes monumental faith. Typically there’s hedging and superstitious “concern” voiced in terms of “if we can afford it.” I will always remember and be encouraged by the acquisition of the lot on which we built our third and final home. It was overgrown on a corner in a small wooded cul-de-sac community near my wife’s lakefront childhood home. There was no “for sale” sign visible. While I walked the half acre I mentioned to God how perfect the site would be, near family, a great elementary school for our four kids (one on the way), and a park a mile away with youth sport fields. I came upon a metal sign face down in the weeds in middle of the lot, a “for sale” sign with phone number. The rest is history. Miraculously, the money needed to build, even to cover cost overruns, was made available to us. The Lord foots the bill for what he orders.
It should always be remembered that the goal in Ezra’s case was to clear the way for the people to properly worship God. In our case, it was to find a place to raise our expanding family. Both are high callings and priorities to God. I know our pursuit was in a first world country, but there are always twists and turns along the way to make sure we learn something!
Confidence in God allows us to move forward diligently and with “zeal.” (7:23) I let no more grass, weeds in this case, grow under my feet. The land was purchased, construction plans were drawn up, a contractor was selected, and the land was cleared. From there, money from the sale of our previous home (we had two mortgages briefly) and a gracious gift from a grandparent financed the project, none of which was foreseen when I turned over that metal “for sale” sign shrouded by weeds. And I forgot to mention, the seller decided midstream to take the lot off the market (a shocking “death of a vision!”), only to relent a few weeks later!
Don’t think this story has gone lost on me some 32 years later. It was designed by God to be an undeniable display of his gracious provision, as was the completed temple “adorned” in gold. By the way, the Hebrew word for adorn, pa˒ar, means to “glorify.” In our own way, we determined to keep many of the trees present on the site to preserve its natural state, and to this day we enjoy a small park in which we can stroll and give God all the glory. My wife, a natural horticulturist, put God’s handiwork on display (“glorified” it) with a beautiful garden. To cap it all off, my wife had the vision to erect a pergola in this garden, which was finished in two days by our next door neighbor, family, and friends, in which we can now sit and “meditate” on God’s goodness.
Just as the Israelites were to pause and worship God in his temple, so should we, figuratively and literally. If we stop to look back over the years, there is much cause to do so. In our case, we only need to look out over our own backyard to witness how He “extended his lovingkindness” towards us. (7:28)
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