Ezra 3:8-13 – Progress with God, don’t be waylaid by regrets

In our previous discussion, in Ezra 3:7, we are told the Jews who had now gathered in Jerusalem ordered timbers from Lebanon for the rebuilding of the temple. And in the second month of the second year of their return, Ezra 3:8 says they began the work of rebuilding the temple. Led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, their brothers the priests and the Levites, and those who returned to Jerusalem started the rebuilding. Levites 20 years and above were appointed to oversee the work. The priests led by Jeshua together with his brothers stood with the Levites to supervise the workmen engaged in the rebuilding program.

Ezra 3:10-11 say that when the temple's foundation was laid, the priests fully robed in their priestly apparel with trumpets, and Levites, the sons of Asaph with cymbals, stood ready praising the LORD according to the direction that King David had done previously. They thankfully lauded the LORD saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.”

A segment of the people who had returned saw the foundation of the temple laid, and responded with a great shout of joy. However, among them, many of the older priests, Levites, and leaders of families who had seen the grandeur of the previous temple, began to weep amidst the shouts of joy. Ezra 3: 12 tells us that there was a mixture of the shouts of joy and the bellowing of the cries of sadness that their joy or sadness became indistinguishable. There was a mixture of emotions among the returnees.

Lesson: we need a proper perspective to understand what God is doing in our lives. Be realistic. Face each day as it comes. When we put our hope in God, we learn to look positively at what God can do through us. But when we pessimistically compare what we see now and our success in the past, we tend to become melancholic. Optimism gives hope, and pessimism brings reticence. Optimism can help us to be excited and zealous in God. We should neither glory in our past successes nor wallow in past failures and regrets. Both can stifle our progress. Be thankful for good past experiences but don’t be overladen with past failures and regrets. Learn from the past, repent, align, and move on. Take the attitude of Paul, who said in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”