Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Ezra 4 and Psalm 6

The evil one is very uncreative in his approach to opposing true worship of the LORD. Always seeking to deflect worship from the LORD, this Satan (whose name means opponent and accuser) constantly employs the weapons of temptation, guilt, shame and fear to tempt people not to worship God or serve Him.

As the returned exiles made steady progress with the place of worship,, ie the Temple of the LORD, evil opposition grew among the pagan people who had been settled there by Nebuchadnezzar 70 years before. 2 Kings 17:33 shows us that they had been content to worship multiple gods for all these decades. They had never thought to prioritise the restoration of Yahweh’s Temple. Why would they have? So, now that the Jews were doing so, first envy and then anger rose in their hearts. In a letter filled with manipulative lies and half-truths, they complained to the new emperor (who had succeeded Cyrus) and managed to convince him to order the rebuilding to stop. As always, Satan was hard at work opposing the worship life of God’s people, and sadly he appeared to be succeeding.

As disciples we ought to consider what prevents or deflects us from offering true worship to the Lord. Most often it is not the fear of physical harm, such as that which threatened the Jews. Far more frequently it is apathy, laziness, or a lukewarm commitment.

Heavenly Father, please forgive me for not prioritising worship the way I should. Holy Spirit please set my heart on fire with love for my Lord, and draw me to worship Him diligently, in spirit and in truth. Amen.