Ezra

Yes finished reading Ezra! I think I finished all of the Prophets. Finally. After putting it off all these years. When I thought about Ezra I was thinking boring yata to. But when I started reading ok pala. Share ko 4 Miracles that happened

Miracle #1: Going back to Israel

King Cyrus of Persia was just seating on his throne and suddenly a thought came up to him "Hey why don't I send back the Jews to Jerusalem and ask them to rebuild the Temple of God. We'll pay for the whole thing." King Cyrus was not a Jew. I don't know what he read the night before or what he thought of. But all of the sudden he makes this decision. I was thinking it was not a strategic move. What can he gain from this? Asking the Jews to go back he might as well start a rebellion in his kingdom. Well the Bible says it was God who moved him.

Now the Jewish people, imagine your a 3rd generation Jew living comfortably in the most modern city of that time and then your ask to move back to the land where you grandfather came. Never been there before. All you know that its the most backward place. Would you live in a place no electricity, no running water, no TV and no Internet? You know some people could die of boredom ;) Well God moved them to. Its a miracle God moved their hearts to do His will.

Miracle #2: Getting rid of the troublemakers

Well their building the temple, of course the Jews had enemies too. They tried infiltration, discouraged them, threatened them and even hired counselors or experts to ruin their plans. So they continued doing that until a new king arose King Darius. Remember Piatco when Erap was president the project was legal but when GMA came on board suddenly it was illegal. Well the enemies were wise, they knew new king means new policies. Ok so they wrote a letter saying that this project was illegal. So a TRO was issued. So Haggai and Zechariah wrote a letter to King Darius saying "Ok go back to your records see that this was decreed by King Darius." So they looked at the records and lo and behold it was there. You know King Darius could have said "So what? I'm the new king. New king, new rules". Maybe Darius was thinking, if Cyrus made this plan there must be a good reason for it. Anyways whatever the reason, one thing for sure God's hand was there. He moved Darius to help finish the Temple. The plans of the enemies backfired.

Miracle #3: God protecting them

New king again, King Artaxerxes. This time Ezra comes into the picture. The new king was moved by God to offer treasures and gifts back to the Jews. He like hands them a blank check and then tells them go back and make a offering to God. Alright?! Well not quite. Ezra had to bring all these treasures back to Jerusalem and it was a long and dangerous journey. Ezra could have asked for a security detail but he thought what would king Artaxerxes think. If your God is the real God, why can't he protect you? So they fast and prayed and they reached the Jerusalem safely. Miracle yes. I'm a type of person who likes to worry and when we were going to and from the Azcop camp. I was thinking, a thousand things could go wrong. But God's hand was there. Uy sayang for those who did not attend.

Miracle #4: God deals with their sin.

The Jews were back in their land and 1st thing they do intermarriage. Wait before you say anything, the main point here is that they married people who worshiped other Gods. That meant they would lead to worship other Gods that's what got them exiled the first place. No holds bar, he deals with their sin. as you can see on the list. Walang kaibigan or kamaganak. If you sin your on the list. Notice even some Levites were on the list. It really is a miralce when God opens the eyes of the people see their mistakes and turn back to God.

So go read Ezra, highly recommended. Right now I'm going to finish Psalms.