Today’s Episode

It’s all too easy to hang on to the old when God is doing a new thing. In today’s episode, we’re looking at the exiles’ return to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple. Some had hoped God would help them rebuild something close to what they had before. What the people didn’t understand is that God wanted to do a new thing.

Like the exiles, sometimes we look around at what’s broken-down or overgrown in our lives, and we can’t imagine that God wants (and is able) to do something new. Today’s episode will encourage you to embrace “the day of small things,” to get going with what God wants you to do even if things aren’t “just right,” and to remember that just because we face opposition, it doesn’t mean God’s call on our lives has ceased.

Scripture References

Ezra 1:1-7
Ezra 2:68
Ezra 3:1-6, 10-13
Ezra 4:23-24
Ezra 5:1-2
Haggai 1:14-15
Haggai 2:3-5
Zechariah 4:8-10 

Episode Points

1. The Lord wasn’t rebuilding an old thing, He was making an old thing new.
2. Just because the work is opposed, doesn’t mean the call has died.
3. When God is at work, the day of small things can be the day of new things

Quote Kelly Mentions

“Nothing that is attempted for God will go unchallenged.” Derek Kidner

How Do We Cultivate This in Our Lives?

Take some time to reflect on these questions after you read the passage and listen to the

• Have you accepted the call? As the Spirit has stirred in your heart, have you answered?
• Are you waiting for things to be “just right,” or are you obediently and humbly serving the Lord in your everyday life?
• Have you decided God’s call no longer applies because life had gotten hard? Has your own agenda become top priority, more important than the things the Lord cares for?
• Are you looking for God to do an old thing or to make an old thing new?

More from Kelly

Opening Music to the Cultivate Podcast is Time For Singing from her project Hymns & Hallelujahs

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