Old Sandals

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.   He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.   Psalm 126:5-6

The joy and the rejoicing appeal to us more than the tears and the weeping.  But both are important, even necessary, in the life of a disciple of Christ.  He was the Man of Sorrows.  He was acquainted with grief.  And He has promised to fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!   For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.   Psalm 107:8-9

God is a good God
Every heartache He understands
There is healing power; there are miracles
In the touch of His wonderful hand.
What He’s done for others, He will do for you
If you’ll only believe and trust Him too.
For God is a good God,
And His goodness He will show to you!

So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain.  Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.  Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.”   Ezra 10:9-11

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God. And I said: O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than  our  heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. Since the days of our fathers to this day we  have been  very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings,  and  our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as  it is  this day. And now for a little while grace has been  shown  from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. For we  were  slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, which You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity’….And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations?    Ezra 9:5-11, 13-14

This is the prayer of a holy man to the holy God on behalf of an unholy people.

For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God  is  upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”  So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.   Ezra 8:22-23

The Lord of Hosts honored the prayer of Ezra, and those with them, and gave them protection from ambush along the road to Jerusalem.

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.   Ezra 7:10

And to do it.

Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it; and let his house be made a refuse heap because of this. And may the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a decree; let it be done diligently.   Ezra 6:11-12

Those who opposed the rebuilding of the temple appealed to Darius, King of Persia.  The Lord turned this back on them, in moving Darius to not only support the rebuilding of the temple, but to threaten with death any who would stnad in the way of its completion.

And [those rebuilding the temple] returned us an answer, saying: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed. But because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and carried the people away to Babylon. However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God.”    Ezra 5:11-13

Were these events predestined by the God of heaven without regard to any human decisions?  Is God’s foreknowledge based on such divine predestining of events, or is His predestining based on His foreknowledge of all actions, both His own and those of His creatures?

The best (and only) answer that can be given comes from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who declared “there is no searching of His understanding”.  This sentiment is echoed in the New Testament by the apostle Paul who wrote, “How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”.

 

Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building,  and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.   Ezra 4:4-5

It has always been a struggle.  Those that endeavor to do the Lord’s work will always be opposed—sometimes annoyingly, sometimes violently—by others who resist the Lord’s work in their neighborhood as well as His work in their own hearts.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood^[d] in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel.  And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.   Ezra 3:10-13

You can just picture this.  The tears and the joyous shouting together!  This scene prefigures that glad day in heaven, when the redeemed are gathered around God’s throne.  Then there will be tears.  Then there will be shouting!  Then, graciously, God will wipe all our tears away.  Hallelujah!