STIRRING HEARTS

Today's reading: Ezra 1-5

You'll notice in Ezra 1 that our God is in the heart-stirring business.

He led King Cyrus to 'let God's people go' and he moved His own people to make an almost 800 mile trip back to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity.

God stirred the heart of a king that was not a believer in the One True God.

And He stirred the hearts of people who knew Him, knew of Him, knew all about Him--but had disobeyed Him.

Those would be some hard hearts to stir, don't you think?

An enemy of God...

A power hungry monarch...

A man whose identity had been built on conquest and accumulation of people and things...

A nation who had thumbed their nose at the Lord who had declared them to be His...

A people who had settled in and, to a degree, given up hope of ever going home...

A segment of the Jewish population who had never seen the great city of Jerusalem at all...

This chapter has made me double-down on my prayers to the Lord. I've been bold enough to ask Him to do some more 'stirring of hearts' in the lives of loved ones--and in my own heart.

I desire to see big things done around me. Big things that ONLY God can accomplish.

Lord, stir hearts--I'm praying!