Waking up this morning, I had desired to see the recent primary election outcome. Just as I turned on the news, the Lord spoke to me.
“I can use anyone I want and if I want to use someone you think is unworthy, will you accept that and support them?”
The next thing I heard was the Lord bringing up the Persian King Cyrus, whom I have not thought about nor read for a long time. Then He spoke again.
“Study my Word to see how I do things that many will find hard to accept”
As I started to read the book of Ezra, Isaiah and Daniel, I was reminded how God used a secular King to change the condition of Israel from one of slavery and bondage to freedom. Let me post just a few passages.
2 Ch 36:22
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah—the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, [23] “Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!’”
Ezra 1:2
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezra 6:14
And the elders of the Jews were successful in building through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, King of Persia.
Isaiah 45:1
Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right hand,
To subdue nations before him
And to loose the loins of kings;
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
So here my point this morning –
1) We should be praying for our nation that God would move on the hearts of people to choose the right president for our nation. We as a nation are at a “Tipping Point” that will either send us into more ruin or redeem us to a healthy place.
2) We need to be aware that God can use anyone he wants to bring our nation to a healthy place. This includes people we might not choose or like, to get the job done.
3) Our main concern should be that God moves on us, His people, according to 2 Ch 7:14, and that He moves on our nation to cause healthy change. God raises up a nation or puts it down based on its attitude and behavior.
It is so easy to think we know best when we see just a small piece of the overall picture in our nation, let alone the world. God has the big picture and we need to trust him rather than our personal insight, no matter how insightful we think it is.
Our recent corporate fasting should have taught us that God is always with us, but we are not always listening. Shouldn’t we listen and pray?
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if God’s people really trusted God to move? Maybe if we prayed with real dependence God would see our humility and move our nation in the right path for the next four years!
Support the candidate you like and pray for God to move in the election, but trust the Lord to raise up a Cyrus for us to change our nation for our good and the good of the world.
Pastor Dale
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