This Is the Old Testament is part of a twelve-week thematic overview of the entire Bible. Each day we’ll read a thematic selection from a different book or two of the Bible, along with supplemental passages that show how the theme of that day’s main reading is found throughout Scripture. We’ll also read a brief summary of each book and a reflection on how the book fits into the larger story of Scripture. This week, we’ll finish the Historical Books and move into the genre of Wisdom Literature.
What Is Ezra? The book of Ezra records the Jewish people’s return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian captivity, the ongoing rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, and the people’s recommitment to the law, led by the scribe Ezra.
What Is Nehemiah? The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book, documenting the rebuilding of Jerusalem once the exiles returned from captivity. The book of Nehemiah records Nehemiah’s leadership in the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem. It includes an exhortation to remain faithful to the Lord despite opposition and calls Israel to return to their God in their restored capital.
How Ezra & Nehemiah Fit Into the Story: The events in the books of Ezra & Nehemiah—rebuilding the temple, stabilizing Jerusalem, and developing the Jewish community—all played key roles that lead to the life and ministry of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. The role of the rebuilt walls was to protect a functional temple. The temple may not have been as magnificent as Solomon’s, but it would serve as the central place of worship for the Jewish people for centuries until Christ removed the need for a physical temple.
Reflection Questions:
1. Throughout the New Testament, the Church and its people are referred to as the temple of God. How does the value the people of Israel placed on the temple in both Ezra and Nehemiah change the way you view both the Church and yourself today?
2. How does today’s reading shape your understanding of the story of redemption?
Take time to reflect on your responses and share what you are learning with others in the community in the comments.
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63 thoughts on "Ezra & Nehemiah"
The temple was a place of worship and way to rejoice and praise god.
These passages show how the people of Israel looked forward to a coming king or messiah and how they wanted a temple for their king to reign & make Israel great…but when Jesus came He had different plans and cared more about saving souls and building his kingdom in heaven rather than on Earth. These passages show how much we are loved and treasured by God.
The people viewed the temple as a reflection of the glory of God and as a way to commune with Him. They rejoiced in its beauty because it proclaimed the majesty of a God who made it possible to draw near. We get to reflect that in our lives, to be set apart and holy, to be a part of someone else’s encounter with the Almighty God.
The foundation of the church is worship. Worship alone to God. We must lay that foundation in our personal lives bc we are temples and God desires our fellowship!
God sees your faith and it’s beautiful! God’s obviously not done with him yet! Praising God with you for His faithfulness and that he has received salvation!
God sees your faith and it’s beautiful! God’s obviously not done with him yet! Praising God fk
We are Gods temple and the Holy Spirit resides in each of us to lead, guide and protect in every way. We must not defile our temple
Wow, Kaitlin. That’s a lot of stuff going on.
Thank you, Poppa, for having this beautiful daughter in the right place at the right time. Thank you for the medical staff that are getting this young man help. Holy Spirit, be with him and direct the medical staff that he will receive the correct diagnosis and treatment. Let there be no mistreatment or neglect. I bless this man’s body and ask you to bring him healing in his spirit, soul and body, his heart, mind and will. We break off this attack of addiction that has been coming against him. Free his mind and his will and draw him towards yourself. Let him be like a deer that pants for springs of living water. Speak through Kaitlin and help her to minister to him. Help her to set aside time to care for her own needs. Holy Spirit, give her your discernment that she will know your path for her and for this relationship. Keep her on the path you have for her, do not let her steer from the right or to the left. I pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Having a very rough time right now, found out my boyfriend whom had just been saved has been a closeted alcoholic and by the grace of God, I got him to the ER when he needed to after months of seeing concerning symptoms not knowing what was going on with him in secret. Turns out he’s in full blown end stage liver failure. My heart was shattered for so many reasons but in this previous season (past 6 months) which challenged me to my absolute limit God prepared and grew my faith to stand strong during this so I may lean on Him for strength and comfort through this all. He has been in hospital for 3 weeks. He was moved to ICU right after I gave him his new bible I bought him when I saw him on Thursday this past week. Once again God had me where I needed to be at the right time, he began throwing up so much blood and he refused to call a nurse in so I ran out and tried to grab nurses but they weren’t coming fast enough i went back out and another nurse came back in with me until his nurse could come. Within 5 min there were 20 people in the room stabilizing him. I am 23 years old and although I may have much wisdom in my few years on this Earth, that was the hardest thing to see. A vein burst in his stomach related to pressure in liver from end stage disease. We were preparing for a transplant at some point but we need him to get on list ASAP and it seems everything is falling into place with God’s hand over it all. Before any of this is always felt such a strong calling on his life and I had no idea why. Now I truly feel God is going to carry him through this and this will be his testimony and God will rebuild him with a foundation much stronger than ever before as the scripture here says so that fire (alcohol and temptation and satan) will not destroy him this go around. On the day everything came to light he was almost going to die from withdrawals and I was so scared I cried out to God and he spoke romans 8:28—He WILL rebuild and use it for HIS GOOD. I Rest In Peace knowing God is in control I just need be steadfast in prayer and let God move mountains. Please keep us all in your prayers. Thank you. ❤️
I forgot to post this. I read the link that was posted from Proverbs 31 written by Christine Caine. She referenced Hebrews and her message was to be careful not to drift. I wanted to let everyone know that that same ministry is doing a study on the whole book of Hebrews now on the First 5 app. I have the app, but you can also go to their website site and read the devotionals at http://www.proverbs31.org. I went over and saw today’s devotional. After you click that, you will see the word Plans at the bottom. Click on Hebrews to view past devotionals. The fist week is a foundation week. Day 1 The God that speaks is one that I want to go back and take in more! What an amazing truth!
@Sarah Rose and Taylor praying
Thank you so much for everyone that shared links or stories or the poem.
@MELISSA MCRONNEY, thank you.
God always makes a way.
Hi Ladies,
Please continue to pray for me / us…the situation with the adoptive family might be taking a yucky turn. As Jesus is my witness, I have shown only love & support but no one believes I am genuine and as such, it must be that I am “manipulative”.
What might be worse is that I think I might have upset / annoyed the social workers involved in the case (which I fear might affect our fostering future but,I may be getting ahead of myself). I hate that only one perspective is being taken.
I did not sleep last night and am carrying such a heavy weight.
Please pray God will do what is best, in each one of us… especially me “the chief of sinners” :'(
@allie s – 100% a friend! I’ve had my current one through some huge life stages and changes. I cannot imagine not having it.
@sarah joy. Yes! My youngest kiddo literally tore out whole books and pages of my prior Bible (he’s 1…) so I knew which Bible I wanted to replace it with. But it’s always so hard to lose a Bible or move on to a new one because it’s like a friend with all my notes and highlights and underlinings. This is a very good Bible but I’m still getting used to the CSB version.
In Ezra, they rebuilt the temple before even building a city wall. They knew that showing God they cared and that they were dedicated to Him was most important because without God, the wall wouldn’t have mattered anyway. The temple is a representation of their spiritual well-being, I think. It really had nothing to do with the actual temple at all. Their temple was not even close to being as grand as Solomon’s, but God didn’t care about that. I guess this reminds me that He doesn’t care what the church or anyone in the church looks like either. We are broken just like the temple in ruins. He just cares that our hearts are in the right place and that we put just as much effort into preparing and maintaining our hearts (the new temple) as they did with this new physical temple. And this comforts me a lot because I find myself constantly comparing myself to other Christians and how they seem to have everything put together. This passage today reminded me that we don’t have to be perfect. We just have to keep trying.
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Beautifully said ❤️
This reading reminds me that I am God’s dwelling place. May I love my life like that.
This reading reminds me that I am God’s holy dwelling. That makes me righteous and treasured.
@Susan Floyd I LOVE what you said about working together if a part of the wall becomes broken or crumbling. I hadn’t seen how important community is in the scriptures so thank you for sharing that!
@Sarah Rose I’m praying for you and feel similarly to a lot of what you shared. I’m 25 too and just started my first job out of grad school back in my hometown which is the last place I wanted to start my career. Some (most) days it’s hard not to get caught up in the “what ifs” but God made it evidently clear that this is where I’m supposed to be in this season of life so I’m clinging to His faithfulness and goodness even in a harder season. I also feel like He’s removing a lot of idols in my life – the biggest one being in a relationship. I truly believe I will look back in a year or so and see Gods hand through all the uncertainties. Sometimes all I can do is pray and say “God I don’t know what you’re doing or why you’ve called me here, but I trust you.” Hold fast to Him and believe that He will make beauty out of ashes!
This reading today is so fitting as I truly feel as though I’m rebuilding my life at the age of 25. A diagnosis of a chronic illness last year, dreams not coming to fruition as I thought they would, losing friendships, etc. have all contributed to my sadness. And I’m feeling so confused at what God is doing. God has “uprooted” a lot of what I depended upon and what I saw for my life. I feel as if I’m mourning a life I used to have and even the life I hoped for. But the active role they took in rebuilding the temple just really strikes me. Some days I don’t even have the energy to engage- to seek out friendships and church again. But it’s funny how that’s exactly what I know God is asking me to do. I am just asking for strength (literally even just the physical strength!) to start living again. It’s so uncomfortable. I share this asking for prayers as well as in case any other SRT sisters feel as if they are rebuilding their lives and can relate to this.
Zerubbabel, who’s mentioned in Ezra 3:8 and Nehemiah 12:1, was a part of Jesus’ bloodline (see Matthew 1:12-13 and Luke 3:27)! It’s so cool to see God’s faithfulness to keep David’s line going even after the exile, and how he was a part of the rebuilding work! ❤️
Arina wow I love what you said and how you said it. Your words sang to my heart and brought great meaning to what I read. Thanks.
Allie S. thank you for sharing with us from the SRT Study Bible. That very insightful.
Leanne Stokes totally agree with what you said.
Carleigh Bright you brought up very good points that made me think. I will be pondering your questions also.
Angie I agree fully with what you said and will be praying for you and your son.
Melissa Snell your post is so insightful and brought a new thought aspect to what I read.
Charlie thank you for sharing the poem, loved it.
Liz Wright what you shared had me thinking and I enjoyed it.
Mari V. love what you share and how you said.
Amber Helms loved reading it. Learned a lot from it.
Maura as always very insightful.
Susan Floyd wow your post brought me to another way of thinking about the scriptures.
Sarah Showalter congrats and I am greatful for your insight.
Ezra and Nehemiah are books that I don’t usually hear much about but they seem to continue with showing God’s forgiveness and compassion when His chosen people strayed and sinned. I’ve never studied these books but would love to.
Be blessed my sisters on this hump day.
I am having a son in September (25 weeks pregnancy today!). I decided to name him Ezra, so learning about the book of Ezra is so special to me. Today’s reading reminded me so beautifully that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, they built temples where they would encounter the presence of the Lord. After the redeeming power of Jesus, temples are no longer a requirement to encounter His presence. We are His temple now! His presence is inside of us, not limited to a single building! That is more than I can comprehend. God is so good.
Congratulations on your forthcoming son ❤️
These passages highlight the fact that we are all builders in God’s kingdom, and we must all do our part to accomplish his work. When part of the wall or all of it is broken or crumbling, we must work together to restore it. If a member of the body of Christ is broken, hurting, or struggling, we must be available to assist in that person healing or rebuilding their life and faith.
This reading shows us that community is a very important part of the redemption story in our lives. Jesus Christ brings salvation and redemption, But he does not just save us and leave us alone afterwards. He wants us to have the abundant life full of joy and love! There will always be struggles, but we should never be alone because we always have Jesus, and if we all do our share of the work, we will always have support here in this life.
@Stacy Mallard, I just read your post. It was beautiful and spoke to so many things I have in my life right now. Thank you for sharing.
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I love this study because it is opening my eyes to new perspectives on the Old Testament. I’ve never connected the reverence of the temple in the Old Testament to how Paul tells us we are the temple of God. It changes my perspective of myself and the things I’m allowing in my life.
So cool to see how even though you could have been reading the Bible your whole life it is still new everyday and speaking to you everyday. You never stop learning something new. His word is alive.
I used to wonder why they stopped to celebrate when only the foundation was done. But it would have been such hard work and so important! Then they would continue until the temple was complete. Isn’t that like how much we celebrate when someone comes to Christ? He is our foundation! Then as we go through our walk following Christ that foundation is added to through study of scripture, time with God, faith being built up through what we go through, etc. Praise God that we each have unique but similar temples all built on the same foundation!
Thank you to those who post and share what you saw in the writings. I have a hard time focusing on this current study but you all bring light to what was written. Thank you!
My grandson’s name is Ezra, and I wrote about this passage during a season of both grief and joy last year. There are so many lessons in it. I love the way God speaks to us individually through His Word! Hope you all don’t mind me sharing. May it be a blessing to someone. http://www.kensingtonchurch.org/rivers-of-joy-floods-of-tears/
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Oh Sisters, sometimes the tears come. Yesterday was a really hard day. A battle, crushing blows of life that hit hard. I want to share the details, because I feel your hearts daily here, but it isn’t about me and thus . . . But, God brought me to His word, and your comments and I am thinking what was allowed and meant to crush the Spirit, I believe is going to build up His Kingdom one day, The sorrow and joy seen in the Israelites, reminded me that there are things that this world can destroy, but God rebuilds and I believe the tears here were not only for that which was lost, but also because they did not believe they would see what had been destroyed rebuilt, but God. And that which the enemy tries to demolish, God’s foundation and purpose rebuilds more beautiful, because He allowed the destruction the foundation is now stronger than ever, as we realize that we are nothing without our holy God. And, like Nehemiah our hearts know when we put Him and keep Him on the throne, while we rebuild He multiplies the stones, turns sorrow into joy and lifts us up to see the beauty that He made from the ashes. This is my prayer, His beauty multiplied because of the ashes, the humility that one party endures, while another believes they have won. Then God, because of who He is, I believe will bring grace, and future glory will be had, when grace is realized. May it be so Lord Jesus.
ERB, Isaiah 40, I love that it shows in so many ways we, this world are nothing, like grasshoppers, withering grass and wilting flowers, the nations – nothing, nothing at all compared to our Holy God. And, yet Isaiah 40:3-5 brings us God’s promise of the voice calling in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord. And we see His power throughout this scripture, and that He is unfathomable to us. And then, in verse 11 – Jesus – “He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young.” How marvelous is His love that even though we are nothing He longs to gather us like a lamb into His everlasting arms. Placing my loved ones there today, seeing Him wrap them up with incredible, unfathomable love. Will keep praying ERB, tell your brother, He sees his pain, and knows it, and will carry Him in it. I will keep praying.
Sisters praying for you all, He never leaves, and if you are feeling alone, cry out, lay down what you are clinging to, and let Him in. Angie, I am praying for restoration, I know this kind of pain too. Liz Wright, loved your comment. Katie, praying you feel His peace and strength in your day. Charlie, thanks for the poem, I have heard Mary Oliver speak, lovely words. Hugs and Love to you all.
Such a good reading! And needed,(as always!)!
I’ve just ended a challenging week with the grandchildren here for 7 days! I kept thinking back to a month or so ago when the SRT women were discussing having patients in these situations, and rather than being uptight and controlling in our houses, to just show lots of love!! Boy is it a challenge! It’s one thing to spend a few fun hours or overnights together, but a week-long vacation, with the parents, becomes quite challenging! haha! I kept thinking “show Christ love, show giving and loving!” The parents are non-Christians and have a very “angry, belittling style” of parenting. I have prayed for these 2 grandchildren for years and have fed love and Jesus into them. It was nice seeing them remembering that we pray before dinner in our home, and wanting to help and be kind in our home. But in the presence of their parents, all we can do is hold our tongues. The oldest boy just turned 13, and he has the sweetest nature (which is God-answered) because I thought he would turn out to be a rebellious angry teenager with his upbringing. Anyway I just ask for prayers for Brayden that he keeps staying strong and knows that God loves him when he feels so unloved and punished all the time by his parents, and stays tender-hearted, and grows closer to God rather than distant. Pray for me to keep trying to say the right words to him in our precious conversations that we call “our special talks!” I pray for all of these kids that are so trapped in this crazy world of “self-love” and never-ending wants of the next thing the world has to offer. What a hard time to raise kids, and our parents in the ’80s and ’90s thought we were crazy! ha!ha!
Have a good week everyone! I finally get a peaceful morning, but I will miss those two grandkids as they live outside Chicago and we live in SWF now.
I love that Jesus showed us He is the new temple. The final sacrifice was paid in full in Him. Now we are part of His body and the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought, but His Spirit intercedes for us. We would not be holy or clean or pure on our own, but the King of Glory clothed us with His righteousness.
Lord, please open my eyes in wonder and help me to see your greatness and truth in the closeness of your presence. Galatians 1:4, Joshua 1:8,
Good morning SRT sisters, yesterday the ophthalmologist repeated a scan of my retina. It is healing! I have to return in 6 weeks for another scan and I am believing for complete healing and no surgery! Thank you for your prayers!
I feel for me, I put more value in my physical being then I do for the true temple of Jesus Christ. We no longer need a physical temple because the Holy Spirit lives within us as an eternal temple.
We are the temple. Those of us who name the name of Jesus are the temple. We need one another as we worship together in one accord. I feel so blessed to be part of this beautiful community of sisters as we support one another in our walk with Jesus.
It jumps out to me here that Nehemiah didn’t play all his cards right away. Many who went with him to Jerusalem and those there didn’t know the extent of what he intended to do on his first arrival.
I found the passage in Ezra fascinating that they “could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the outcry of sorrow”. God originally made himself nomadic, like the Israelites, but we rejected that. We thought a building would be better. But God was never meant to be locked in one place. It’s against his nature of omnipresence. Yet he humbled himself to provide what we demanded of him, not knowing that we were making him small. But then, he made himself Human! Cant get much smaller!! Why? So that he could restore us to himself! Why? So that we could be his ultimate plan, his living temple! How cool is that?!
I have always loved the story of the rebuilding of the temple. I love that some are weeping and some are shouting with joy. I love those very real human emotions of mourning mixed with delight — bittersweet.
This made me think of a Mary Oliver poem that I love, so I shall share it here for you all. Enjoy!
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Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does It End?
By Mary Oliver
There are things you can’t reach. But
you can reach out to them, and all day long.
The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of God.
And it can keep you as busy as anything else, and happier.
The snake slides away; the fish jumps, like a little lily,
out of the water and back in; the goldfinches sing
from the unreachable top of the tree.
I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.
Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
as though with your arms open.
And thinking: maybe something will come, some
shining coil of wind,
or a few leaves from any old tree–
they are all in this too.
And now I will tell you the truth.
Everything in the world
comes.
At least, closer.
And, cordially.
Like the nibbling, tinsel-eyed fish; the unlooping snake.
Like goldfinches, little dolls of goldfluttering around the corner of the sky
of God, the blue air.
Praying for you Melanie. ❤️ Your comment about drifting made me think of a Proverbs 31 post I saw today from Christine Caine. I’m going to try to link it, but I’m not super tech savy! https://info.proverbs31.org/its-so-easy-to-drift-christine-caine?ecid=ACsprvtslwd5rpyXJzTyWU4qMNx3KpvNwvlDMe1PITXPqz–z7Vfieh3H2p22-mcp2X0XiOSdOli&utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=132593113&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_xPweVxp0jnOQx0lf6RNqzSyKb5Z6F64lVUoZLOl2tF-1uUWYKbZlizCbTECSNcE0AUcH_x9yfgmQ1n8jWNoD8rH7Epw&utm_content=132593113&utm_source=hs_email
I love the first reflection question! It’s such a great reminder that God decided to extend his temple in us. Him living and taking residence in us means his love can extend to so many others, different people groups etc. than one building structure could in the OT. His plan was to redeem so many of his children even outside of the people of Israel.
I love how the scripture today reminded me that our temple should always have the firm foundation of Christ. We can try to build onto it but the foundation can’t be shaken and is the most important part. The rebuilding of the walls made me think of times I feel my foundation or temple of God shaken. We can help “rebuild” our foundation by seeking God and refocusing on him. We can help encourage others to see where his temple is today and rebuild that trust!
I thought that the Bible Project had a good post on the temples of the OT to the temple of the NT. https://bibleproject.com/blog/temple-of-god/
I love the Bible Project’s videos. I’m actually doing their devotion through Bible in 1 year, too, which uses their videos every few days. I love it!
My alarm goes off to the song, “Back to God”. This morning I woke sobbing in my sleep. I miss my youngest son. Our relationship is broken. He is not willing to reconcile, we have tried. So we wait, pray, trust, love, and miss him.
And yet, there is peace, a deep peace in Christ during challenging situations and heartbreak. It is a different, fuller, heart and mind filling. I am a deep-loving mama, but my Savior’s love comforts, and I trust Him.
I love the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. I love that God’s people, when given the opportunity; go home. They know the place is in ruins and yet would rather go home to rebuild than stay in the place they have become comfortable in. It matters to them. I love the example of priorities. They start with the temple, then work on the city, and finally the outer walls. I even respect and am thankful for the example where they work on the wall for their family’s home area, side by side with others, united, ready to fight with one hand while they build up with the other.
Isn’t it a picture of our world today? We work to build up the Temple of our God and Savior that dwells within us (within us, what a blessing!). As we dwell in Him the temple of our souls in Christ becomes more beautiful. At the same time we are called to build up our cities and nations for Jesus, spreading out to stand together united. And yet we are ready. We will fight when needed in faith for the Truth, for our souls, for lost souls, for our families, for our cities, nations, and world; for Jesus. We will protect, as needed, while we build. And, we will not do it alone for the Spirit of our God lives within us.
Will there be joy, yes. Sorrow, pain, disappointment, yes. Hope, yes. Purpose, yes. For we have Jesus, YES!
1. The emphasis of the temple in the Old Testament, and knowing that the New Testament describes the Church and God’s people as the new temple, makes me realize the importance of our ministry. The temple was a Holy place, just as God made us Holy. Our job now is not to invest in worthless work, but to invest in the Work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
2. Our readings today point to the story of redemption in two different ways:
• How awesome it is that God brought his people back into Israel and through faithful leaders like Nehemiah restored His temple. This is important because He is bring His people back to Him; just like He always brings us back to Him no matter how far off we wonder. I also love the confidence of Nehamiah. He was following Gods commandments from Joshua 1 to be strong and courageous, he knew the Lord his God was with Him wherever He went. (Side note: Nehamiah might have just moved to my favorite Old Testament human.)
•We are now the Temple that the Israelites were buildingin Ezra and Nehamiah. Christ dwells within us now because of His death on the Cross. This is THE story of redemption.
I’m left with this one reflection question for myself: Am i representing the temple of God? Am I using my ministry for good and Godly work or am I doing worthless ungodly work?
Carleigh I really enjoyed your post thank you.
@ARIANA – what an amazing thread! God has been weaving the way of His heart from OT to NT. I love that!
@ALLIE S – if there was ever a Bible I would contemplate adding to my life, it would be the SRT study Bible. Thank you for sharing! I especially loved: “God invites us to bring our pain and disappointment into His presence and declares a might statement over our broken places: He will make the glory of our future great, even if it looks different from what we expected or ever wanted. He will provide peace.”
The broken places today are the relationship between my brother and his fiancé. In the midst of an already stressful season for them, some difficult and potentially future altering revelations have come to light. It’s heartbreaking to try and love them both from a distance. I’d appreciate the prayers as they navigate and seek God for His best. And prayers for my heart to plead for them without my own desires being most important. My God be glorified.
I love the comments it helps me to think more on what I read daily. I have slipped away from the Lord not intentionally but I can tell. My heart has hardened due to circumstances. I don’t want to be that person. Pray that I will continue to forgive those who hurt me. That I will make good decisions for my little loves. That I am a light to the world.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.”
This is such a GOOD reminder!!! The Spirit of God lives in me!! I need to let God reign in my life and in my everyday thoughts and actions!!
MAURA, the verses in Isaiah 40 are some of my favorites in the whole Bible, but for some reason I always forget where they are from!! So today’s reading was super refreshing for me!!! The verses put EVERYTHING in perspective and alignment. SO Good!!!
…Yesterday you asked about my brother, he is still struggling with pain and is still having trouble getting all the medical professionals he’s dealing with to communicate not only with him, but with each other!! He is extremely frustrated, stressed and exhausted!! He needs prayer!! So definitely keep praying!!!!
May each of you have a truly blessed day!!! And know that I am praying and standing with you all.
The temple represented God’s presence and where sins were covered by the sacrifices offered by priests. We walk around as living temples carrying God’s presence (Holy Spirit) and we offer the hope of forgiveness through Jesus! Oh, that I would allow Jesus to shine through me!
The temple represented God’s presence and the hope of the people’s sins being covered – we, as a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, are walking around carrying God’s presence and the hope of forgiveness. Oh, that I would allow God to be shining through me!
So much to ponder over this morning, especially in light of the first reflection question.
I absolutely loved the way Ezra highlights both the joy of what is (a new temple) and the disappointment of what was or could have been (the old, more glorious temple). The She Reads Truth study Bible shares that: “God invites us to bring our pain and disappointment into His presence and declares a might statement over our broken places: He will make the glory of our future great, even if it looks different from what we expected or ever wanted. He will provide peace.” Then, in their commentary on the Nehemiah passage regarding rebuilding a wall despite the destruction and opposition surrounding them, the SRT study Bible reflects, “Sometimes, faith means looking past the landscape destruction around us to the restoration God has promised on the horizon…let’s find comfort in the firm foundation of our faithful God.” May we find peace and hope in the disappointments of a broken, fallen world, and may we build our lives solely on God’s secure Word as our foundation.
Need to go into work early today but much to think about with this reading.
@KATIE – praying for your challenging day today
1 Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy,and that is what you are.
Could/does this verse apply to those who lead others away from God? To false doctrine? False teaching?
HEATHER BOOTH – thank you for the heads up on the Dallas Theological Seminary website. I want to check it out once work slows down.
KATIE – praying for your challenging day today
LINDAK – praying for your eye and treatment
SARAHJOY – praying for your brother and fiancé
and praying for other needs too. As I review the previous day’s comments each morning, I stop and pray for the requests.
ANGIE – thank you for bringing to our attention the need to have and to pray for others to have an undivided heart. Adding that to my prayers!
It’s so beautiful how the concept of the temple is woven throughout the whole Scripture. How God gave Israel the tabernacle and later the temple as symbol of His presence. Which got destroyed because of their disobedience. But God, in His faithfulness gave the people a new temple. Even more, He gave His own Son. His temple was destroyed because of our sin, but after three days rebuild again. So that now God can dwell in us. We have become His temple. And in heaven, there no longer will be a temple. Because God Himself will live with us! He will be our Temple.