God’s Gift

 ”Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me.“ ‭‭Ezra‬ ‭7‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The gifts from king Artaxerxes to Ezra made a significant difference in the project of rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord. Prior to this time, many kings and governors have fought vigorously against the project; and repressed every attempt to undertake the same project. Obviously, it is true that when the hands of the Lord are upon any project in life, He uses even our enemies to make significant contributions to the success of the project. Even when it appears the people’s hands are vigorously against the pursuit of God’s purpose in our lives, their actions and inaction are sincerely supportive in disguise. Therefore, the most important and relevant gift towards progress and prosperity in life’s project is the good hands of the Lord. In short, Emmanuel - which is, God’s presence in the midst of His people. Therefore, rather than being carried away by the hands of king Artaxerxes (or some other times, the spirit of Sambalat and Tobiah), Ezra acknowledged “So I was encouraged, as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me”. And as we celebrate the gifts of people and from people in honour of Emmanuel, it is more important to appropriate genuine salvation from sin as the reason for the season.

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