Recovery Devotional 346 Bittersweet Recovery

JMD Devotional 346 Ezra 3:10-13 Bittersweet Recovery

[After 70 years of exile, Cyrus King of Persia decrees that God told him to rebuild His house (temple) in Jerusalem. So a remnant of the exiles were returned to perform the work…]

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their vestments with trumpets, and the Levite sons of Asaph with their cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the order of David king of Israel. They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever toward Israel. And 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 fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house [Solomon's temple], when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, though many shouted aloud for joy. So the people could not distinguish the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far off.

Once God spoke directly to His people; but while they were being disciplined for their apostasy He spoke to a pagan king (who became the ‘head’, and Israel the ‘tail’). Scholarly notes remark about when the priests returned to Jerusalem, they consulted the Urim and Thummim, articles on the High Priest’s breastplate that once gave indications of God’s will. The lack of mention of a word from God, and no further mention of these articles in the scriptures lead many scholars to believe that Israel’s long-standing disobedience had apparently caused Israel’s priests to forfeit the divine gift of guidance through Urim and Thummim. Imagine that you could once text-message God through your cell phone; and receive personal answers; but due to your spiritual adultery and the damage to that relationship, your cell phone was henceforth dead. God did send prophets to speak to Israel; but this line of direct communication was gone. When you have really blown it, and your life has fallen apart due to long-standing sinful behavior and gross rebellion, the rebuilding of your life is bittersweet. Any new life is worth celebrating; redemption and renewal are a source of great joy; but the wasted years leave you with fewer ones going forward, with less to dedicate to God than you could have. It plays out in scaled-down projects, like the temple’s smaller foundation that moved the older priests, who knew what could have been, to weep. A man who has fallen hard must bear the knowledge that God had to use others to fill in for his dysfunction: others to support his wife, others to raise his children, others to take his place while he has languished. The consequence of sin, the wreckage of relationships, the misdirected energy mixes weeping with recovery’s celebration.

Dear God,

The weight of the consequences of my past sins could sink me into utter despair were it not for the blood of Jesus and the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. The more I understand what You saved me from, the more astonished I am that You did it! Outrageous grace has ushered me into a position of complete acceptance and forgiveness. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Many fellow Christians have questioned my spirituality because I am not bubbling over with joy: we know my inner rapture, the joy we share privately. You also know my pain as sharply as rusty nail prints can put it: that is also real. The combination of the two helps keep me chaste and sober, my spirit has been tempered, I am thoughtful now, as a disciplined child finally quieted. Glory to You for carrying the load, for filling my voids, for rebuilding this life.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

Christian, devotional, recovery, addiction, purity, faithfulness, integrity