Ezra 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua…and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer an offering thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
How to Find Your Way Back
Being lost is one of the worst feelings in the world. To leave behind that feeling of panic and aimlessness and to find our way back to a productive place is always a relief and a joy. Sometimes we lose our way on a road, and sometimes we lose our way in life.
The first time I ever spoke publicly was when I was about fifteen and my youth pastor asked me to give my testimony at a local rescue mission. It scared the living daylights out of me! Here was a group of men who had drifted far from God, and now were finding their way back. Looking back, I am glad I had that opportunity. You don’t have to hit rock bottom in order to be lost and far from God. Sometimes we are far from God and we don’t even know it.
I think most of the Israelites in Ezra’s day knew that they were far from God. In fact, many of them were far from Jerusalem. Yet God worked through the heart of a pagan king, Cyrus, king of Persia, to send the exiles back to Jerusalem who had it in their heart to rebuild the house of the God.
In Ezra we find the story of some of God’s people returning and rebuilding the altar and temple. How did they find their way back to God? And how did they know how to worship God after so long a time away from Him in captivity under His judgment?
Chapter 3 tells us about the people setting back up the altar and the worship of God. Verse 2 says it this way, “Then stood up Jeshua…and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer an offering thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.” So how did they know how to return to God and worship Him in the way that He wished? They had a written record! Even though they had been far from God and far from home, they knew how to return to God because He had given them guidance in His Word.
The same is true for you and me. We are not people who need to keep feasts and sacrifices as they did before the Lord Jesus came, but God has written everything you need in order to find your way back to Him. It is a fixed standard. It is in His Word, and it is His will revealed to us.
Today, the way to find your way back to the fullness and joy that comes from fellowship with God is to know what He said, to accept what He said as the authority, and then to do it. Any turning back to God includes a return to His Word, and that, of course, is why He gave it to us in the first place.