August 16

Today's Reading: Ezra 5:1-17

This passage narrates the restarting of the Temple building project in the second year of the reign of Darius I. There is a reference here to two prophets - Haggai and Zechariah. In the first chapter of Haggai we find God's command to rebuild the Temple, which was given to the people through Haggai.

Shortly thereafter, some of the local leaders who opposed the rebuilding of the Temple confronted the returned exiles and asked who had authorized them to rebuild the Temple. They then sent a letter to King Darius asking him to verify whether the previous king, Cyrus, had authorized the work.

Once again, we see that those who oppose God and His people will often go to great lengths to stop them. But, as we're going to see tomorrow, God is still sovereign and His purposes and plans can never be thwarted by man. That's certainly something to praise God for today.