May 29, 2023

Ezra 1:1 (HCSB)
The Decree of Cyrus 1 In  the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,  the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled.  The Lord put it into the mind  of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

Andrew Ivey
Our God is Sovereign. He is completely in control of this world. We see God’s sovereignty clearly in this passage. God stirs up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia in order to fulfill the prophecy He gave through Jeremiah. This account sounds similar to that of Moses with Pharoah, when God hardens Pharoah’s heart so he would not let the Israelites go. God’s prophecies aren’t true because God looks down through time and sees what will happen. No, God’s prophecies are true because God makes them happen. We find enormous peace when we surrender our lives to this God who “holds the whole world in His hands.” When the world, our nation, and perhaps your life, seems to be falling apart, rest in the assurance that our God is still in control. “He cannot fail, He must prevail. Have faith in God...”