Consider Your Ways

G. C. Willis
“Consider your ways." All of us need that word in this day of softness. The Apostle could write, "Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." It is a day when we are tempted not to endure hardness. It is a day when we make everything as easy as we can, and I think it is time for all of us to consider our ways.
About the temple that was built in the days of Ezra, and its lack of silver and gold, Haggai could say it was nothing compared to the old temple. Whose fault was it? Turn to the 6th chapter of Ezra and we will see whose fault it was. There was a document giving authority for this house, but they did not know where the document was, and they did not know what was written in that document. We read in the 17th verse of the 5th chapter of Ezra:
Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.
Next, in chapter 6:1-5 of Ezra it says:
Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; with three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: and also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.
That was the document, but we have to look back a little bit to get the setting. You remember that King Cyrus and what he was about to do were foretold in the prophet Isaiah. Daniel was the prime minister at this time and he would probably tell Cyrus that his name was foretold. The dimensions given here seem to be greater than those of Solomon's temple. King Cyrus had conquered Babylon and he had conquered the Cretans. There was a saying, "as rich as the Cretans," and this untold wealth had fallen into the hands of Cyrus. He gives orders for the building of the temple, "and let the expenses be given out of the king's house.”
The enemy hindered them all the days of Cyrus; they did not have the faith to draw on that bank, the richest on earth. The days passed and their golden opportunity was gone. The house was built, but it was nothing in comparison to that of Solomon.