Ezra 4:1-4

Ezra 4:1-4 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, As the people of God began to build, they had other people who caused trouble for them. At first the troublemakers pretended that they wanted to help in rebuilding the Temple to God. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua knew their wicked hearts. Zerubbabel, and Jeshua knew that they just wanted to get inside to see what was going on so that they could defeat the building program from the inside. So when the Jews would not let the outsiders help, they got mad and began to openly cause trouble. They threatened to tell the king of Persia on the Jews. But Zerubbabel and Ezra had permission from the King of Persia, Cyrus the Great! The troublemakers couldn’t do anything as long as Cyrus was on the throne. But when the next king came to power, things changed. That is the way it is in life. When you want to do the right thing, there are going to be people who will oppose you. May be the project that you are doing wasn’t their idea and they are jealous. Or it could be that they don’t like the things of God and they just want to make trouble for those who do like God. But be assured, there will be trouble. But like Zerubbabel, and Jeshua; just be ready for opposition. Stand firm and serve God. He will take care of the opposition. He is in control.