January 29, 2021

Courage for Your Calling

By Skip Heitzig

Isaac Newton’s third law of motion states that every action brings an equal and opposite reaction. That’s a spiritual law as well. If you serve the King of Kings, the prince of demons is going to react. If you serve heaven, hell will not give you a standing ovation.

This was true of the Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Their neighbors weren’t too excited about what was going on, so they “tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose” (Ezra 4:4-5). They even sent a letter to the king of Persia to get this thing stopped—and it worked (see vv. 7-24).

The rebuilding of the house of God was brought to a standstill—for sixteen long years. All the…