Them Whose Spirit God had Raised

Day three hundred seventeen

"Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much." ~Helen Keller

Ezra 1:5

"Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem."

This is not the first time that the Lord has stirred the people's hearts.  Throughout the scriptures, God is credited with stirring people's spirits to accomplish His plan, whether for captivity or release.

He stirred up the spirit of the king of Assyria to carry some of Jews away into exile (1Chr. 5:26).
He stirred up the spirits of the Philistines against Judah to invade it (2Chr. 21:16-17).
And He stirred up the Medes to destroy the Babylonians (Jer. 51:1, 11).

But now He is stirring up release from captivity. God had stirred King Cyrus' spirit to make the decree to free Judah and now He will stir the spirits of the people to return and rebuild Jerusalem.

Though the returning exiles were a minority, they were a spirit-stirred minority. They were dedicated to the difficult and discouraging task of returning to a ruined city and once there to rebuild the house of the Lord.  It was essential that God move the spirits of these returning exiles, because of what they would face on their journey:

The journey itself was long, dangerous, and expensive.
They returned to a city in ruins with no proper homes, roads, or city institutions. 
They didn’t have all the material resources they needed.
 They didn’t all return to Jerusalem but spread out over the province of Judea.
 They had many enemies.
And their land was actually the possession of another empire.

That is a lot to face!  So much so that not all the people returned.  This must have seemed like an overwhelming task to undertake.

Did you notice that God stirred the hearts of non-believers too?  God is in control. His plan will be accomplished by whatever means necessary. I take great solace in that fact. When no one is on our side, when only wickedness is in the land, God's plan will still unfold. He will do whatever is necessary to fulfill His promises.

There are many times in our lives when the Lord will ask us to do hard things. Some of these things will seem like they will be impossible to accomplish, they appear beyond our ability to bear.  Then we lean on the Lord and He stirs our spirits and what once seemed impossible seems doable.  I love those moments!  That burst of energy that comes when the Spirit takes over or those brilliant ideas that come to a weary mind.  What a wonderful gift to have our spirits raised by God and in that moment to feel a little divine power. 

Now imagine what we could accomplish if as Christians we allowed God to raise our spirits and work within us as a group.  That's a whole lot of divine power that could be directed at a task.  We see these moments when we all pull together to help during an emergency like an earthquake or flood.  If you have ever participated in such an event you know that you can feel the difference in the people and their desire to help. The Spirit is palpable. I'm sure they felt it in Jerusalem as they began to rebuild too.


I go back to the Helen Keller quote at the beginning of this post and see that the together part is much more than just you and me, it is you, me, and God.  And it is true, together with raised spirits, we can do so much!