“When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, the came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”
When I was kid I got in trouble and I was punished. After the punishment, I often had to clean up my mess or fix whatever I broke. That was not part of the punishment, that was because I broke it or messed it up. Let’s just say that whatever I fixed did not look entirely like new once I got finished.
Here we find the Israelites rebuilding the temple of God because Cyrus the king decreed that they rebuild it. Remember help from unlikely sources, yep God does that also. I want to address something that does not happen very often, unwanted help. Sometimes, like when I was a kid, I had to fix or clean up what I broke by myself because my parents wanted to teach me a lesson. In other words, I had to complete the task alone. In that process, I learned how hard it was to rebuild something and also the time it took to complete it. My brother, Uncle Chuck, sometimes would come in, offer to help, and I often let him help me. Although sometimes I got in more trouble when mom and dad saw that I recruited help for my punishment. We, both, were just wanting to get it done quicker.
In the Israelites case, help was offered by their enemies. The same people who had been a godless and wicked people towards Judah in the past. The priests refused to let them help and the Assyrians began to make trouble by sending letters to the king of Persia. They claimed that Judah, once they build the temple, will not pay taxes and cause trouble. In the end, the king of Persia finds the decree by Cyrus, the Israelites finally finish the temple, and they have Passover for the first time in over 70 years.
Today realize that God has equipped you to finish what He started in your life. We don’t need to seek help or take help from people we know are not good for us. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Be careful who you let into your work space of life. At first they may act like they want to help, but in the end they will corrupt your efforts and you may find yourself in a bad spot engaging in actions that will lead your life far from God.
Pray and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance today with the people in your life. Just because some of your friends say they want to help, their guidance could be as rotten as wormwood the Bible says. Psalm 1: 1 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,” In other words, wisdom should guide us to Godly counsel when choosing our help.
Let It Go 
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