Ezra 3:3
“So they set up the altar on its foundation, because they were terrified of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.”
King Cyrus had sent the people back to Jerusalem and decreed that the temple be rebuilt. The work and financing isn’t there, yet, but they are at the beginning stages.
We get this insight about those returned and the peoples of the land. They were terrified of them. It doesn’t give us details about what they were afraid of. About this same time Zerubabel was beginning to rebuild the city’s wall. All of this sounds like good motivation to offer sacrifices daily morning and evening.
To be terrified is such a strong description. I can remember being scared of bullies in middle school. That was the closest I came to being terrified. I went home from school pretending to be sick on one particular day to avoid them. Thinking back I never told my parents. I internalized all that. I don’t think I prayed about that. I didn’t occurr to me to do so. I didn’t understand the power of prayer. My mom had a strong faith. She would have prayed if she’d known.
Four years later I came to faith. My circumstances had much to do with that. It wasn’t fear. Loneliness and getting injured were those issues. I went to a youth group at that time. There was a christian concert and an altar call in which I responded. I didn’t know what I was doing. In my mind it was, “If you want to be on God’s side, then come on up.” God became part of my life. I thought of Him often. I could feel Him. I would talk about Him to others. My mom and I began to watch christian television. That was my spiritual food. In the summer I met a seminary student who invited me to his apartment and he taught me the bible. I would invite my friends on occasion. He and I were friends for about a decade. I would become an assistant pastor at his church.
All that to say that my bad circumstances produced an open heart to the Lord. It did the same to the Israelites. They sacrificed twice a day. Their gaze was positioned upward. We will learn more about them as we are still in chapter one.
What do the negative circumstances to do us? Do they drive us to God? They should. He is the greatest resource.