“And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” (Ezr 6:14 AV)
This statement is made after the matter over Cyrus’ decree was settled. The work came to a halt because the enemies of Israel spread misinformation to Darius, king of the Medes and Persians. They neglected to state the decree of Cyrus and implied Israel was in rebellion against their authority. Darius did a thorough search of the records and found the decree to rebuild the temple and reordered the construction to continue. Furthermore, Darius also made provision that provision be made on behalf of the government of the Medes and Persians that sacrifice be made for the king and kingdom. This statement then appears. We know Haggai prophesied through this whole ordeal and beyond. Zechariah is a bit fuzzier. We don’t know exactly when he preached. But what we want to notice is through the good times and the bad, the preaching of the man of God encouraged the people of God to finish the task.
An encouraging word is important. One does not have to be a preacher to offer one. Anyone, who believes something can be done, is a worthy cheerleader. It is astounding what can be accomplished with a kind and uplifting word from the mouth of someone who has all the faith one could have in God. It is amazing the things people can do for God if someone will simply show some faith on their behalf. One of the challenges of taking a group of teens on a foreign missions trip is keeping them focused and energized for the entire length of the trip. When we went to Ireland, we took two weeks. The first week was all nervous energy. The LORD allowed us to conduct a VBS. The guys slept on the floor of the church house. It was actually a two-room side building of a Catholic Church. When Saturday rolled around, it was evident we were pooped out. Our shower facility was the bathroom sink. We slept on a tile floor. Our laundry was non-existent. We ate well. And Irish tea with Irish milk was out of this world! But we were tired. Then came the second week. We had planned a teen outreach. We walked and walked the city of Cork. We street-preached and handed out fliers. We worked hard that week. Even more so than the VBS of the previous week. Just about Tuesday or Wednesday of that second week, we were getting worn out. It was hard to keep this team focuses and energized the entire week. But our host did a wonderful job! He is so energetic. He keeps dozens of balls in the air at one time. There is no way an army can keep up with him. It was his energy that got our team over the finish line. Without him, I fear our team would have conked out mid-week.
We don’t know the outcome of this building project if God did not provide at least two preachers to encourage the people. Perhaps it might have gotten done. More than likely, it would have failed. The people had a lot of reasons to be discouraged. But the words of these two men, and others, motivated the people to finish the project. It was the words of these two men with the gifts of a presumed enemy that turned the tide of discouragement. Next time we see someone attempting something a bit too much for him, her, or them, rather than give our opinion of how it may not work, offer words of encouragement. Let them see the faith you have. Rather than allow them to become a self-fulling prophecy and fail because they think they will; give them hope that with God nothing is impossible. These two encouragers were just as responsible for the success of the whole and any other single person. Maybe you cannot do much. But what you can do is encourage.
P.S. The month is almost half gone and there is plenty of opportunity to win a $20 gift card. Just have your friends and family follow this blog and send a comment along as to the person who encouraged them to. If you recruit the most new followers, the gift card is yours. Winner will be announced at the end of the month.
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