What hinders us in following God? (Ezra 8:1-20)
Ezra 8:1-20 Early in my working career, I felt the stirrings for Christian ministry and left to become a volunteer with a Christian mission in the UK reaching out to international students. My boss was puzzled why I would give…
God is at work! (Ezra 7:11-28)
Ezra 7:11-28 Waiting for the promises of God can be hard when the fulfilment takes years, and we wonder if God is really on our case at all or has forgotten us entirely. The psalms in particular are full of…
What makes us grow in the faith? (Ezra 7:1-10)
Ezra 7:1-10 Whenever I visit churches, I ponder the question of what these places implicitly communicate about their purpose. One church I recently went to was particularly friendly and strong on fellowship and the sermon focused on God’s acceptance and…
Looking to the future with joy (Ezra 6:13-22)
Ezra 6:13-22 The most obvious note that marks out our passage today is the joy of the exiles as they complete the temple building. If we are cynical, we could say that it is easy for them to be joyful…
When God turns obstacles into opportunities (Ezra 6:1-12)
Ezra 6:1-12 We left the story of the exiles and their temple building at a tense point, when they re-started the project under the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1-2) but were challenged by the Persian officials about authorisation…
The path no one knew was there (Psalm 77)
Ps 77:1-20 As we set out in the New Year and reflect on 2021, Covid is still with us and just when we began to think that life will be getting back to some normalcy, the Omicron variant arrived raising…
Announcement – taking a break
I am taking a break for a week and will be back with the usual Monday and Thursday posts from 3 Jan. May you know God’s strength and comfort whatever the circumstances in your neck of the woods. Thank you…
The most needful thing in life (John 1:14-18)
John 1:14-18; Exod 33:15-23; 34:1-9 One of the hardest things of the Covid pandemic has been the social isolation we felt or may be feeling even now. When we face a crisis, are anxious, wrestle with tough questions, we want…
The possibility of powerful change (Ezra 5)
Ezra 5:1-17 After the commissioning service in my first job teaching Old Testament, someone approached me with the message, which he felt was from God. It was, ‘You in yourself are enough’. For a rookie lecturer those were powerful words…
Haggai introduction – the key to a fulfilling life
I generally introduce a book first but given we have already had the background in the Book of Ezra, I decided to leave the overview until the end as a kind of summary to the book. Haggai’s prophecies in the…