OUR FATHER WHO UPHOLDS US AS WE MOVE FROM DEATH TO LIFE

The book of Ezra chapter 4 verses 9 - 10 says this;

9 - Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates—the judges, officials and administrators over the people from Persia, Uruk and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa,

10 -  and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.

These verses are the introduction portion of a letter that Rahum and Shimshai wrote to Arterxerxes, king of Persia.

Rahum and Shimshai were administrative officers overseeing the Samarian and areas west of the Euphrates river that were regions of the Persian conquests.

At the time of the letter, Jerusalem was being rebuilt  under the authorization of Cyrus king of Persia.

Rahum and Shimshai were concerned that the rebuilding of Jerusalem would create a problem because of the history of sedition and  rebellion against rulers.

They felt that once Jerusalem was completed, the people therein would cease paying tribute and establish a platform for resistance.

In their letter to king Arterxerxes, they urged him to halt the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Artaxeres concurred which them and issued an order to have the construction efforts stopped.

The rebuilding of Jerusalem was thus halted until the time of the reign of the king Darius of Persia.

When we are saved, our souls and minds need to be rebuilt but sometimes, letters are drawn up by the enemies of our souls to delay the reconstruction project in our lives citing our history of rebellion.

We then find ourselves stalled in the process and unable to gain traction in the furtherance of our Christian walk.

It was only until the prophets Haggai and Zacharaiah gave word to start work again that the reconstruction of Jerusalem resumed under the leaders Zerrubabel and Joshua.

The question of the legitimacy of the rebuilding project arose again among the Persian administrators of that region and they approached the leaders of the project to ask them under whose authority they were undertaking the project.

As the work continued, a letter was sent to King Darius of Persia to get verification that the rebuilding of Jerusalem was lawful.

The letter refferenced the original decree issued by King Cyrus that released men and resources to return to Israel to rebuild the temple.

When we find our reconstruction project held up by spiritual resistance, we can wait upon the Lord to hear a word that galvanizes us to resume our rebuilding process. We can get this from prophetic voices in our midst and upon getting our impetus to continue pressing forward, we can reference the original authorization of our salvation that set us free and gave us the resources to rebuild our souls through the finished works of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

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