Devotional
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Nehemiah 2 and Psalm 14 In Nehemiah 2 we see Nehemiah enjoying astounding favour. It appears that he received absolutely everything he asked for. We should conclude that when heart-felt, sincere, fervent prayer and fasting aligns itself with the will of God, this brings a tremendous release of God’s favour. It all started when Nehemiah…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 1 and Psalm 13 The events of the Book of Nehemiah begin about 15 years after the events of the Book of Ezra and about 100 years after the first exiles returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. Having prioritised the rebuilding of the Temple, they had not yet rebuilt the city walls of…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 10 and Psalm 12 Ezra 10 is a confusing and disturbing chapter. A significant number of Israelite men had entered into illicit marriages with pagan wives. Such marriages were illicit because of the express Law of God outlawing them – for religious (not racial) reasons. They had known before entering these marriages…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 9 and Psam 11 No sooner had Ezra and his caravan of returning exiles arrived than a matter of grave concern was reported to him by the leaders of God’s people. Like Solomon, Ahab, and many others before them, some of God’s people had been so tempted by the wealth to be…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 8 and Psalm 10 Ezra must have seemed absolutely full of faith and very confident in the power of the LORD when he told Emperor Artaxerxes: “‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him’” (v.22). When he…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 7 and Psalm 9 Until now the most significant leaders of the returned exiles were the priest named Joshua and the royal family-member, Zerubabbel. In Ezra 7, we finally meet the priest Ezra, after whom the book is named. He would become profoundly influential in Jerusalem. What made him unique was that…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 6 and Psalm 8 In Ezra 5, as the rebuilding continued under the inspiration of Haggai and Zechariah’s prophetic ministry, the local govenor of the province (Trans-Euphrates), Tattenai, and his secretary Shethar-Bozenai questioned their authority to build such a Temple. But the response they received back from the new Emperor Darius was…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 5 and Psalm 7 The Jewish exiles who had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple had been forced to stop by political intervention from local opponents (See Ezra 4). For a few years the work was at a standstill and the people focussed on rebuilding their own homes instead. So, as…
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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…
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Daily Readings: Ezra 3 and Psalm 5 The worship of God is the fountain from which every other activity of our lives should be watered and fed. Worshiping God should be our top priority. For the returned exiles, rebuilding the altar so that they could start worshiping God as a community was their top priority.…
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