Tuesday, November 1
Lord, rouse their spirits
Scripture: Ezra 1-2, Psalm 126, Luke 1
Ezra 1:1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:
Ezra 1:5 So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had roused—prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem.
Observation
Two times in the opening verses of Ezra, God “roused the spirit” of someone. First, God roused the spirit of King Cyrus to send Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Then God roused the spirits of Jewish people to move back home. After 70 years of exile, this was no small feat. Most of these people had been born and raised in Babylon and had no memories of Jerusalem—just stories from their parents and grandparents. It would be like me deciding to move to Sweden or Germany since my ancestors hailed from there.
The word “rouse” means “to awaken, to arouse from sleep, to stir up or incite, to move.” I like that picture of arousing someone who is sleeping. God roused the spirits of the king and people to achieve His promised ends, His purposes. He can do that.
Application
This makes me think of people I know and love who are far from God and I want them to move toward God—and believe that’s what God wants too. Today, I’m going to pray that God rouses their spirits, stirs them, awakens and moves them toward Himself.
In many cases, prayer is the only thing I can do. I need God to move, to stir people and rouse their spirits. I can’t move them, but God; my part is to pray.
Prayer: Lord, I have a long list of people I’m praying for today that You would awaken them, rouse their spirits so they move toward You.