Are You One among a Million?

by Fay Barlow
(Lexington, Sc USA)

Ezra 1:2-3 Thus says Cyrus King of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God) which is in Jerusalem.

This is at the end of the Babylonian captivity. One Hundred forty years before Cyrus issued this decree letting the Israelites return to their homeland, Isaiah had prophesied that a man named Cyrus would issue such an order. So King Cyrus was essentially offering freedom to all the Jews in his land to return to their home, Jerusalem, to build the house of the Lord. There were over two million Jews in Persia at this time. Two million captive Jews! And only fifty thousand wanted to go back to their homeland. To freedom. Why, I ask?

Probably because many had been born in captivity and didn't really understand that they were in bondage. The chains they had been carrying around had become a way of life.

But the brave few that went. Oh, how they were blessed. I would imagine that there were struggles in their leaving. The ridicule of walking (literally ) away from the only home they had known. Maybe there was teasing involved. And could you imagine the kids and some adults that might have been complaining the whole way back to Jerusalem. I'm sure there was singing and praising, but there's always a few complainers in the bunch. After all, even in captivity, conveniences are remembered.

But sacrifice always costs something to someone. Freedom always comes with a price too. But to be a part of something big for the Lord. That would have excited me. To be where the action was. Where history was being made. To follow a cause. We all want to follow a cause. Be it God's or ours!

The millions that stayed behind stayed in the comfort of their captivity. No worries. All was the same as it had always been. But the few that went forward in God's plan may have endured much strife and sacrifice with little comfort along the way, but when they got to their destination, freedom awaited them, and not just physical freedom, but spiritual freedom. Here they were, building the house of God. Freely worshiping Him in His Holy city.

Many people today don't realize that they are living in captivity because of the comfort of their chains.

And what about me? Am I willing to venture the struggles of life and follow God's plan or am I going to sit back in my comfort and captivity.

Am I one among millions or am I one in millions?