Why Should There Be Wrath? (Ezra 7:23)

 


Tuesday, October 22, 2024


Psalm 118:1-18

Ezra 7:11-28

1 Peter 3:8-16


Why Should There Be Wrath? (Ezra 7:23)


One of the main reasons we are looking at these readings with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other is so that we can figure out what we should be doing today. As these returned exiles are rebuilding the holy city, so too we are rebuilding this broken and yet redeemed world into the model of the kingdom of heaven. As the example of the renewed temple worship shows, we are to focus on our own worship first: get that right, and then we can worry about everything else.


But now that we are approaching the table of the Lord Jesus with a renewed interest, understanding, reverence and joy, a new question arises: in order to do what? At the end of every Sunday service, we are told to go, to get out, to leave that holy place and do… something outside the church walls. Worship is good in and of itself – but it also has a further purpose.


This morning we read another government memorandum. It gives Ezra, the public servant responsible for the rebuilding, far-reaching powers. Snuck into the middle of it all, the king gives a very good reason: so that the people of God can pray for the king and his sons. The king is asking the believers to pray for him.


We call these types of prayers “intercessions”. That is, we go before God and “intercede” on behalf of the people for whom we pray. Our government needs prayer. Our church needs prayer. Our family needs prayer. Our society needs prayer. Our natural environment needs prayer. There is so much prayer work we need to do. God has redeemed us by the blood of Jesus so that we may boldly approach the heavenly throne of grace, and so that is exactly what we must do.


Something I constantly wrestle within myself is trying to get a balance of prayer; intercession is hard work, and God wants me (and us) to spend plenty of quality time just enjoying the presence of one another in prayer. Sometimes prayer should be on behalf of others, and sometimes prayer should be just for the love of God. But prayers of intercession still need to happen. If the church is praying for the world and everything in it, why should the wrath of God ever come again?


Lord of heaven and earth: give our government wisdom, our natural environment health, and our people love. Do all things according to your good purposes and perfect will.

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