God is at work. I am not.

The Lord is at Work
Elder Beng Teong, 19/04/2009

GOD's Message to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom he took by the hand To give the task of taming the nations, of terrifying their kings-- He gave him free rein, no restrictions: "I'll go ahead of you, clearing and paving the road. I'll break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks, kick down barred entrances. I'll lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables-- Confirmations that it is, in fact, I, GOD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. It's because of my dear servant Jacob, Israel my chosen, That I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work. And you don't even know me! I am GOD, the only God there is. Besides me there are no real gods. I'm the one who armed you for this work, though you don't even know me, So that everyone, from east to west, will know that I have no god-rivals. I am GOD, the only God there is. I form light and create darkness, I make harmonies and create discords. I, GOD, do all these things. "Open up, heavens, and rain. Clouds, pour out buckets of my goodness! Loosen up, earth, and bloom salvation; sprout right living. I, GOD, generate all this. But doom to you who fight your Maker-- you're a pot at odds with the potter! Does clay talk back to the potter: 'What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!' Would a sperm say to a father, 'Who gave you permission to use me to make a baby?' Or a fetus to a mother, 'Why have you cooped me up in this belly?'" Thus GOD, The Holy of Israel, Israel's Maker, says: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do? I made earth, and I created man and woman to live on it. I handcrafted the skies and direct all the constellations in their turnings. And now I've got Cyrus on the move. I've rolled out the red carpet before him. He will build my city. He will bring home my exiles. I didn't hire him to do this. I told him. I, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies." GOD says: "The workers of Egypt, the merchants of Ethiopia, and those statuesque Sabeans Will all come over to you--all yours. Docile in chains, they'll follow you, Hands folded in reverence, praying before you: 'Amazing! God is with you! There is no other God--none.'" Clearly, you are a God who works behind the scenes, God of Israel, Savior God.
(Isa 45:1-15)

God called Cyrus. The Lord is at work and He is always looking for someone to work alongside Him in His work. The Lord is at work in the church and the Lord is at work in your life. He is always at work to bring His purpose to His people. The question is when the Lord is at work, are we? Do we leave it all to Him? As long as we see the boss at work we will work. We will not leave until the boss leaves. If we are at work, what work are we doing?
1 Acknowledge the Lord’s Purpose
Do we know what God is doing in the church and in our lives? We cannot think that when we are ok God is working in our lives and when we are sick God is not working in our lives. The Bible is very clear that God is always at work. Do we know God’s purpose? Cyrus knew what God wanted him to do.

God said Cyrus did not know Him. God intervened history to accomplish His purposes. The Lord’s purpose given in v13 is to build His city and free His exiles. God will raise whoever He wants to fulfill His purposes. There was no exile yet.

The first deportation takes place some time in 606 BC. The last was probably 586 BC. Isaiah 45 probably took place before he died around 681 BC. Isaiah was alive when he gave this prophecy. Isaiah probably outlived Hezekiah.

Cyrus overthrew Babylon in 539 BC and issued his decree allowing the Jews to return in 538 BC. (Ezra 1:1-4)

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia--this fulfilled the Message of GOD preached by Jeremiah--GOD prodded Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom. He wrote it out as follows: From Cyrus king of Persia, a Proclamation: GOD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship in Jerusalem, Judah. Who among you belongs to his people? God be with you! Go to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build The Temple of GOD, the God of Israel, Jerusalem's God. Those who stay behind, wherever they happen to live, will support them with silver, gold, tools, and pack animals, along with Freewill-Offerings for The Temple of God in Jerusalem.
(Ezr 1:1-4)

Cyrus did not address God as his god. He knew God as a mighty God. He did not know God as Israel knew Him.

From the prophecy to the event is at least around 120 years. Cyrus was not even born when the prophecy was made! God intervene in His history to accomplish His purpose. History suggested Cyrus was supposed to be killed and he wasn’t meant to be king.

God will raise people up at the right time, e.g. Esther ‘for such a time like this.’ You are not here because during one night your father and mother had nothing better to do. This is awesome. The almighty God knows when we are going to be born. He knows we are going to be sitting in the church today.

The rebuilding of the temple began in 536 BC and was completed only in 515 BC, it took almost 20 years. The people lost the sense of purpose. Haggai admonished the people for building their own houses but not God’s temple. The people were chastised for forgetting God’s purpose.

Cyrus acknowledged God’s purpose for him even though he did now know God personally. It became his purpose. (Ezra 1:2) He made God’s purpose His purpose. He did it quickly. In his first year as the king, he made the proclamation.

How long have we known God? Did God ask us to do something? Are we waiting for the second year or the third year? Do we have to wait until we retire from work? God wanted us to obey in the ‘first year’, i.e. immediately. We need to take God seriously. God wanted us to teach us a lesson through Cyrus. Not only did Cyrus do it quickly, he also did it not for price or rewards. (Is 45:13 KJV) Instead he gave back all that Nebuchadnezzar has taken and gave back more. (Ezra 1:4, 7-11)

We live our lives in reversal of God’s intention. God wants us to seek first Him and His kingdom. But we tend to look for rewards first.

• God will intervene in our history to accomplish His purposes.
• His purpose is to be our purpose.
• We are to discover it; do it quickly; and without price or reward!
• Eph 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. “
• God designed us from His heart. If we don’t discover our purpose we will abuse / misuse our lives.
What is a good Work? God’s work! Anything that is according to God’s design and purpose. Paul encouraged us to walk in the design of God’s purpose.
2 Awake to the Lord’s Presence
With God’s purpose will always comes God’s presence. Are we sensitive to His presence?

We have problems with God’s purpose because we are not awaken to God’s presence. (Is 45:3-5)

God calls us to His purpose by name and yet we do not know Him! The significance of calling somebody by name is that we are important to Him. When somebody calls us by name, he recognizes who we are and to him we are not a face in the crowd. We do not know Him because we are not alert to His presence. As far as we can tell, Cyrus is not a believer. We are. We ought to know our God.

We do know Him because we do not live according to His purpose. God became a distant god. We call each other by name only when it’s a personal friend. How do we be spiritually alert when we don’t hear? Jesus said there are those with ears who don’t hear. We sometimes pretend not to hear because we don’t want to do what we would be told. As a result, we lose out in life.

The best place in life is to live according to the purpose He set for us. We do not hear because we are not physically alert but not spiritually alert.

Hezekiah started very well but in the end he lost his spiritual alertness. Isaiah told him he was going to die. He was to put his house in order. But God extended his life 15 years. However, Hezekiah spent the 15 years to exalt himself. God defeated the Assyrians. Hezekiah was the only king who did this. Hezekiah did not repay the favour of God. God tested his heart and sent the Babylonians. Isaiah told him Babylonians would take away the kingdom of Judah but he would be spared. He selfishly rejoiced. We are created as spiritual being just happened to be housed in a physical body. We connect to God in a spirit level. We cannot be spiritual attentive if we are not spiritual alert to God’s presence. Jesus asked us to watch and pray. The Bible calls someone who does not guard his spirit as a city without walls. There is no protection.

Paul talked about the thorn in the flesh. He said to live is Christ and the die is gain. Many live the other way round.

The older we are the harder it is to stay physically alert. We need to work extra hard. This is the same with spiritual alertness. When we go to work, we enhance our physical self. How do we then enhance our spiritual self?
3 Applaud the Lord’s Power
With the Lord’s presence, comes the Lord’s power. (v6-7)

The power of the Creator will help you fulfill His purposes for you. He can open double doors; make crooked places straight; break in pieces the gates of bronze; cut the bars of iron; give you the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places.

The power of the Creator is not for our entertainment or self-fulfillment. Hezekiah is a good lesson.

The power of the Creator is not for price or reward. (Consider Simon the sorcerer.)
4 Accept the Lord’s Sovereignty
God is our friend but do not take him as a buddy. He is the King of kings. We need to treat him with a lot of respect. (v9-13)

Do not overplay grace and forget the sovereignty of God. Many of use treat grace like a trapeze’s safety net. Do not take it for granted. Do not be presumptuous with God’s grace. When God bless us, it doesn’t necessary mean we have the correct doctrine. If just means that God is sovereign.

We argue and strive because our purpose in life clashes with His purpose for us. We struggle with God. Many in Malaysia don’t respect the traffic lights because we can negotiate our ways out of trouble. We can get away with it. But this is not so in Singapore.

What are you making? He has no hands? What are you begetting? What have you brought forth? The clay cannot question the potter.

We then appeal to His grace!

The Bible warns us that woe to him who strives with his Maker.

God has made us and designed us with a purpose. When we live in the purpose, we have His presence and His power.
Conclusion
• Do you know God’s purpose for you?
• Do you know you were born for such a time as this? Do we have a clear sense of destiny? Do you know that there is purpose for you to be sitting in this chair?
• Are you living out God’s purpose or your purpose?
• The Lord is at work. Are you working for Him?