"With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: 'He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.' And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid." (Ezra 3:11 NIV)
During the time of building the temple in Ezra 3, it seems that getting the task done was something heavy upon all the people's heart. Each person played their own part in the process. Some were masons or carpenters. Some gave money. Some offered up burnt offerings, but each person seemed to have a vital role in the process. While many shouted with praise, others who had seen the former temple wept. We should not let the rememberence of former things shoot down the joy of the present miraculous things God has brought!
Though it be a short chapter, I believe Psalm 126 has a lot of power in it, probably inspired from the great and suprising deliverance of the people of God out of bondage from their return out of Babylon in Ezra's time. In verse 2, it says that their mouths were filled with laughter and their tongues with songs of joy. God is able to fill all of us with laughter and joy if we just allow him to do so. I believe God doesn't just want us to go through our everyday lives just as others do, but I believe God wants to look down and see his people filled with laughter and joy and having a good time in His name.
Most people believe that, once they come to Christ, all the fun has to stop. But, from my personal experience, serving God is an everyday joy! Just knowing what I'm working for and my reason for being gives me a sense of hope and freedom, which makes me smile!! If we act like, talk like, or have the same dull expressions on our face as the world does, then what makes us think that others would want to be like us? It may be hard sometimes, and we may be having a bad day, but God expects us as his people to be different. SMILE---It makes people think! Have a blessed Labor Day!! :)
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