GREAT THINGS

This is a record of the relief and rejoicing of the people of Judah on their return from Babylon to their homeland. God had allowed them to be carried as captives into Babylon seventy years earlier because of their persistent idolatry. They had “mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words … till there was no remedy”, 2 Chron. 36. 16. Their enemies had overrun the land, and destroyed the temple.

Now, in answer to the prayers of Daniel, God had moved the heart of Cyrus, the Persian king who had recently displaced the Babylonians, to provide for their return. So about 50, 000 chastened Jews had returned to build a house for the God of heaven in Jerusalem.

They had no heart to sing while in captivity, but now they revelled in their deliverance. Everyone who has truly called on the Lord Jesus can say with them, “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad”, v. 3. The unconverted also must confess this. They can surely see a change in a liberated soul, v. 2. The change was like a dream, hardly believable.

To the south of Jerusalem was semi-desert, whose dried-up water courses became torrents of life-giving water in the wet winter season. The former captives pray that fresh streams of their brethren also may join them. They recall their tears of repentance, and look forward to further rejoicing in the Lord, v. 6.

Then came the problem of cultivating and sowing the land that had been largely left fallow for seventy years. They had to reserve some of their precious com to ensure a harvest the next year. So when a man went forth with a basket of seed for sowing, he had a hard decision to make. Maybe his wife and children were crying for more bread, but he must use his seed wisely, and would in due time reap a rich reward. We expect to reap, not just what we sow, but more than we sow, whether thirty, sixty, or one hundred fold. We go out with a basket; we return with sheaves. This is sobering. The way we use our time and abilities now will make all the difference to us in eternity.

“Above all that we ask or think”, Eph. 3. 20.