Ezra 4: Handling Opposition

⁴ Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. ⁵ They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. -Ezra 4:4-5

Living obediently to God does not always equal a positive outcome. The Jews who sought to rebuild the temple were discouraged by their neighbors. These individuals even bribed officials to shut down their construction.

We live in a time when many teach that faithful living equals earthly blessing. Scripture does not support this. Here and elsewhere, God’s faithful are often opposed when standing for what is right. In fact, this is often the norm rather than the exception.

We are to do what is right, expect to be treated wrong, and yet do what is right anyway. This is the true teaching of Scripture.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.