The Bible Column - God can cause the enemies strategy to backfire!

“Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.” Ezra 6:11
The decree in the verse above and the scripture context… (Please read Ezra 6:1-22), from Persian King Darius stands as a testimony of how civil authority can support the work of the Lord! Here the adversaries of the building of the House of the Lord had been successful in halting the work of the Lord for 15 years. Upon the urging of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the Lord’s people had begun again to build the House of the Lord. Once again the adversaries of the work of the Lord did what they could to stop God’s work. We always need to remember that, “Satan will never allow the blessing of God to go unchallenged!”
The adversaries sent a letter to King Darius, requesting his verification of King Cyrus’ decree in directing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuilding the House of the Lord that the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had previously destroyed. Upon King Darius’ search for Cyrus’ decree, he in deed, did find King Cyrus’ decree of permission and direction of the building of the Lord’s House. King Darius further strengthened the Lord’s cause by directing those things found in the verse above. Simply stated, King Darius said that King Cyrus had decreed to build the House of the Lord and whosoever is found seeking to alter Cyrus’ decree…go to his house, pull down some timber from his house, build a hanging tree for him and hang that man. King Darius further decreed that his house be made a dunghill…that is the foul place where excretion is found.
In our land today, we are so accustomed to the action of many in authority, being stacked against the work of the Lord, that the actions of Kings Cyrus and Darius are clearly a breath of fresh air. We can see from this true Bible history that some civil authority in the past was favorable to the things of the Lord. More recently in our land, many of our founding Fathers provided the same kind of support for the work of the Lord. Presently, in Papua New Guinea the civil authority has requested and approved the distribution of 6 million Bibles to the entire nation’s school age primary and high school students! That project is ongoing! One of our missionaries is working in follow-up of that present project!
May we the people of the United States return to obedience to the Lord so that He can continue to bless our land with decrees like that of Kings Cyrus and Darius! The Lord is in control of the king’s heart. May we as individuals turn to the Lord and give Him control of our hearts! We need to turn from our sin so that the Lord can turn our captivity and bring revival!
II Chronicles 7:14
Our personal Bible reading and prayer will direct our thoughts aright before the Lord in these matters! Thanks for reading today!