June 23, 2018: Day 70 – Ezra 3

There was a great emotional uprising because of the laying of the foundation stone for the temple.  Once again we are reminded that the house of the Lord had been destroyed, but now it is going to be rebuilt.  You know about the wailing wall.  You can find it below in a picture that John Faltin took four years ago.  

This Scripture describes the dichotomous feelings of those who were weeping with grief because they remembered the temple that used to be and those who were weeping with joy because finally the foundation of the new temple was being set.  There are mixed feelings in the crowd not because people didn’t want the temple built, but because they were inevitably drawn to the reality of their past which was so painful.  It was a past of multiple experiences of slavery: Egypt, Babylon…

As people of God when we approach the throne of grace we are fortunate because we know that wherever we may be, God is present and we can approach Him with humility and confidence.  What we are missing is a sense of what it means to be able to do that in the complete freedom that we have.  We are able to approach the throne because Jesus has died on the cross for us, and as a result we are able to have eternal life.  We don’t always remember the price that was paid for that eternal life.  If we did remember then we just might live our lives as ones of eternal gratitude and our actions would reflect that thanksgiving which permeates every action and every move.