March 13, 2023

Ezra 3: 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. (NIV)

Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of the Lord.*

Imagine living on a piece of property that has been in your family for 50 years. You may not know the history of how your family came to own the property but it’s the only home you’ve ever had. Now picture a horde of refugees showing up there, claiming it as their homeland and beginning a huge construction project on it. How happy would you be about your new neighbors?

For 50 years, the nation of Israel had been exiles in Babylon. When the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persians, their king let the Israelites go “home.” After half a century, how many of the original captives were still alive? Of those, how many were healthy enough to make the trip and then to participate in rebuilding the ruins of Jerusalem?

So, now we have settlers who believe they are entitled to the property and invaders who claim it as their God-given homeland, even though they had never set foot on it in their lives. It most certainly was a recipe for conflict in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, the newcomers had arrived with authorization from King Cyrus and the blessing of God, so in their first act of defiance against their neighbors, they built the altar on the original foundation in the temple ruins. As one commentator has suggested, perhaps they couldn’t feel confident of God’s divine protection until their offerings went up. “Near the altar they were strong,” the writer says.*

The Israelites’ combination of courage and prudence is an example for Christians today. Around the world, corporate worship of God is risky business. Even in this country, we fear that the inconveniences of our politically correct and litigious society are the first wave of attack on our freedom of religion. More and more, we find that we obey God despite our fear of the people around us. In times like these, we must stay “near the altar” where will be strong and confident of God’s divine protection.

When we live in fear we are forgetting who we are.*