Friday, August 14, 2009

Used By God Without Knowing Him

Sometimes I wonder if God can work through leaders when they don't know Him. Often it seems like they are far away from God.

Today I was reminded of how God can use anyone--even if they don't know Him...

"In the first year Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord caused him to send an announcement to his whole kingdom and to put it in writing...'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me, and He has appointed me to build a Temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.'" (Ezra 1:1-2 NCV)

The Temple had been destroyed when the Chaldeans had invaded Judah. For the Jews, the Temple at Jerusalem was everything. It was their very connection with God--without it, they were hopeless and helpless.

But now, according to what the prophet Isaiah had predicted by name 150 years earlier, God was using a pagan leader to rebuild the Temple...(God) "I say to Cyrus, 'You are the one who will rule for Me. You will do what I want you to do. You will order that Jerusalem be rebuilt and that the foundations of the Temple be laid.'" (Isaiah 44:28 TEV)

To me, the most amazing part is that God chose to use a leader who didn't even know Him...(God) "I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work...I'm the One who armed you for this work, though you don't even know Me." (Isaiah 45:4-5 TEV)

I guess I can believe that God can work through leaders...
Even if they don't show any signs of knowing or following Him.

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