27 OCT 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 27 OCT 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation.  The others, however, were shouting for joy.  The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.” Ezra 3:12-13

The older I get the more I laugh when I get together with my friends and we get to talking about the good old days.  Not that today is worse, it’s actually better in my estimation.  We talk about things with a high gloss on them and sometimes we can make them out to be better than they were.  We can have such fond memories of something that we cannot bear to think of something new or start to poo poo the new thing.

In Ezra, you have the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and you have two groups of people, the old and the young.  The older generation remembers what the original Temple looked like in all of its glory.  The ark of the covenant was there, heavenly fire, mercy seat, shechinah glory, and the size and majesty of it all.  This new one would be small in comparison to the new one. These old guys had probably seen its destruction so this was a very emotional event.

Their emotions were discouraging to the younger generation who were excited to be a part of restoring the Temple and Jerusalem.  The worship that broke out was filled with mixed emotions for joy and sorrow which ultimately would cause problems.  God was doing something significant in that moment that the old guys were missing and becoming bling to what God was going to do.  Jesus himself would walk in this Temple preaching, teaching, healing, and issues in the Kingdom.  That didn’t happen in the first Temple.  

Let’s not get so caught up in the glory days that we miss what God is doing right now in our day.  Young or old we can be guilty of this and become hardened to the move of God.

Are you looking back when you should be looking at right now?

Reading Plan: Psalm 31; Ezra 3:1-13; 1 Cor. 16:10-24; Matt. 12:22-32