Raised or Retired?

 “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.” (Ezr 1:5 AV)

 

The underlined phrase begs a question.  Are there those whose spirit God could not raise?  When one considers how many returned to rebuild out of all those who could have returned, one must wonder why so small a number.  Their captivity was ending.  They had the opportunity to return to their homeland, reclaim their inheritance, and rebuild their capital city.  Yet a comparatively small number made the journey.  Perhaps those who stayed behind had made a new life in a pagan world and became too comfortable in their state that returning to do a work for the LORD didn’t seem all that attractive.  Nonetheless, there were those whose spirit could be raised to do something for God.  Being raised suggests they were mostly dead.  God had to bring a revival before the work could start.

There is a commercial for a charity that seeks to help wounded servicemen and women who have come home from the battlefield and are in great need of assistance.  There are several commercials for this charity and each features two or three wounded warriors as they take you through their injuries and needs.  It is rather heartbreaking to see the horrible injuries these patriots are enduring.  One of the themes throughout all of these cases is the fighting nature of the warrior continues.  Their new enemy is the injury of disability which they must overcome.  One of the commercials features a young man who witnessed the horrible terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York City.  9/11 for short.  He had witnessed this event like most.  However, he was from New York City and he tells of three phone calls he made as he witnessed those towers coming down.  The first was to his mother to let her know he was safe and out of harm's way.  The second was to his father for the same purpose.  The third was to his recruiter.  Because he saw those towers fall, his spirit was stirred to do something about it.  This found him on a battlefield that took both of his legs.  He saw a need and was stirred to act upon that need.

David and Jonathan were very close friends.  One of the reasons was their spirits could be raised.  They had kindred hearts which God could stir to meet an occasion.  I fear we are like David’s brothers and the rest of the Israeli army who sat by and allowed the Philistine Giant, Goliath, to ridicule and blaspheme.  It took a boy who was barely a man to face the giant with a slingshot.  Why?  Because it was a spirit God could raise.  Had anyone else yielded to the need of the moment and allow God to stir their spirit, God would have guided their hand as well.  Jonathan?  All he did was take on thousands of Philistines on a hilltop all by himself.  These two allowed the call of God to stir their spirits to do something for God.  This is why our churches are powerless.  We simply do not allow the Spirit of God to move us to action.  We are stirred about a lot of things.  A ball game.  A virus.  The cure for a virus.  Politics.  All sorts of things.  But not the work of God by winning souls, discipling them, and doing the work of the ministry.  Imagine what those left behind in Babylon missed?  They may have had a few comforts.  But they never had true liberty.  Only those who surrender and allow God to raise the spirit are those who will accomplish much for the glory of God.