Bible Passage: “No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.” (Ezra 3:13)
Scripture Reading: Ezra 3:7-13
Ever had an experience that someone else felt completely different about?
Not just a divide in preference of movies or whether or not an amusement park is a good first date (spoiler: maybe). But an actual interpretive difference on something significant.
It’s not always just a matter of differing perspectives but of differing expectations and experiences.
Most men can relate to missed expectations. Whether it’s in our family life, our career, or our own character, not everything goes as we imagine it should.
The exiles returning and rebuilding had an issue like this—only over something far more significant.
There was an obvious age and experience difference in the crowd that was able to return to Israel.
Some returning had never been in the Promised Land, exiles born in exile who had never experienced life in Israel’s homeland.
Others, however, were older and were part of the group that had actually been taken away into exile.
The problem?
Despite the courage required to rebuild the Temple and their success in doing so, not everyone thought the new Temple was worth celebrating. The responses from the older and younger audiences could not have been more divided.
Those who had not seen the glory of the former Temple, the Temple of Solomon, saw with great wonder the beauty of what they had reconstructed. The joy of their celebration was heard far and wide.
On the other side were those who, perhaps as children, had witnessed the splendor of the Temple that Solomon constructed. They had seen the glory of God fill that Temple. And in comparison, the humbler new structure that stood before them, and the events it represented, were cause for deep lament. This was not what they remembered. It did not capture their hearts; it merely broke them for what had been lost.
But what we must remember, as those who get to see from the far side of history, is that this was still God’s desire. God had freed the Israelites, returned them to their homeland, and invited them to rebuild.
God was with them. And that was worth celebrating, even if it was not the celebration some of them hoped for.
Prayer: Faithful God, thank You for being there with us in the trials and the celebrations, no matter the circumstances or expectations. Help me be a man who can celebrate and lament appropriately, knowing that You are there with me. Amen.
Reflection: Where have your expectations been disappointed recently? Why? What does it look like to be honest with God about what you are feeling?
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