Stirred Up

Scripture Reading: Ezra 1

The companion books Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return from Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah’s focus is on the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, while Ezra’s primary concern is the rebuilding of the temple. Just before the captivity, when Jerusalem was about to fall, the prophet Jeremiah predicted the return and rebuilding of the city and its temple. Therefore, Ezra begins by explaining, “that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.”

God not only stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, but He also stirred the spirit of a multitude of Jews to go to Jerusalem and undertake the work of rebuilding the temple (1:5). So, what we see in Ezra chapter one is a simultaneous working of God in the hearts of Cyrus, the king with the political power to help or hinder the rebuilding of the temple, and Jewish people, who had the ability and resources to carry out the rebuilding work.

Behind it all – behind the decree of Cyrus, behind the financial contributions, behind the willingness of people to pack up and move to their ancestral home – was the moving of God’s Spirit upon the spirits of men and women.

Within the life of the church, we know we need people motivated and “fired up” to do the work of God. Unfortunately, we often think the solution is the motivational tactics of the world. There is a whole class of people whose job is described as being “motivational speakers.” And so we conclude that our pastors need to be more like that if we are going to get things done. Well, we certainly don’t want pastors to be “demotivators,” but are we going about this the right way?

What we need is more of what we see in Ezra chapter one. We need the work of God’s Spirit. We need the Lord to stir up the spirits of men and women to do the work, to make the sacrifices, to give, and go. Therefore, the first step isn’t getting better human motivators to fire up the congregation. The first step is to pray and seek the Lord, to ask Him to stir up His people again.

Isn’t this what Jesus told us to do when He said, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will raise up laborers for the harvest?”