Daily Thoughts : November 30th

   

Ezra 2:69  According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 drachmas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments.

The context of this is shown in the previous verse: “When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site.” The situation is that Israel have been allowed to return to Jerusalem after the Exile to restore the Temple. Now note that they came to restore the Temple before they restored the city. Why?  Because the Temple was the place of meeting with God and that needed to be the first thing that was restored. Whatever else happened, the means of encountering the Lord had to be re-established – and a number of them understood that.

 

Now I think that is important to see. Some realised that the most important thing was to re-establish the place of encounter with the Lord. Not everyone is alert to spiritual realities but for those of us who are, there then comes a new consideration: what can we do about this? At that point we have to assess our life priorities. Do we keep our commitment to the Lord limited to “spiritual” issues or is the whole of our life surrendered to the Lord? For these people there was an obvious need, funds to re-establish this place of encounter with the Lord. Will they all give the same? No, some of them have more than others and so they give “according to their ability”, so some give more than others. Have you seen the needs in the kingdom of God? Do you give according to your ability?

 

  

     

 

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