Preserved

Ezra 2:70

“The priest, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.”

We are planning a huge trip overseas in the coming months in which we will be gone 10 days. What amazes me is all of the preparations we have to take for the house and animals while we are gone. The calling for setting up of all of the food and schedules is a daunting task. I am sure we will also call the people watching the house while we are gone and check up on things.

What if you left your house for over 70 years? Would it even be there? We have lived in our home for almost 20 years and the amount of upkeep in just 20 years while we live there is crazy. So what if you just up and left and your kids came back 70 years later? Would you even find something worth living in at all?

Cyrus, king of Persia, told the Israelites to go back home and rebuild the temple. God told him to do so (Ezra 1:2-4). We find that the Israelites left Babylon after 70 years of captivity. When they left, they were given all of what was left of the temple gold and silver pieces along with livestock and food for journey. Chapter 2 is a list of all the people who left Babylon to come back to the land of Judah. The number was over 40,000 not counting the male and female slaves. What a road trip!

The Bible says that when they arrived, they gave freewill offerings towards the rebuilding of the temple and began to settle back into their old towns and homes. Once everyone was settled, they started to rebuild the temple. I always just shot past this chapter because the names and genealogies are not a fun read, but I seemed to have missed something. They settled back into their old towns and homes just like if they had just left for a weekend trip. No one to kick out, no enemies living there, they just moved back in after 70 years of being gone.

Similarly, you can drive across the country and notice the old oil boom town of Texas. 70 years ago they were thriving little towns with banks, shops, homes, and grocery stores; now all you see is an old stop light and a connivence store. The town just got wiped away over time. The Israelites seem to have walked right in like they left for the weekend.

So what? Not a big deal right? To those who have lost part of their childhood due to abuse. To those who have wasted a part of their lives with drugs or abusive substances. To some, the past, like the Israelites, is a place of pain. The Israelites were “taken” into captivity, they were not happily going on a trip. You might have been in a bad marriage or relationship for many years and even looking back is painful. The place you came from is not a happy place and you don’t want go back.

The good news is that the Lord can bring you back to your old self before all the mess. You don’t have to accept a new strange reality that says home will always be painful. You don’t have to stay in Babylon! You get to go back! Back to where Lord has preserved your life and has kept it ready for you to move back into. And that is not all. He also has gifts of grace and mercy for you to heal from the past and not just look at the scars in pain. Yep, the Lord can preserve your life no matter how bad you have wrecked it. Babylon may be a far away place from home, but the Lord says that He will keep you, guide you into perfect peace, and turn your past into a testimony so you can help heal other weary travelers from their broken past that they thought would never go away.

Preserved! I love that word. It reminds me of the grace of God and how He leaves the 99 and goes after the 1.