Finding Your CyrusSample

The text in Ezra takes place after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and taken the people into exile. Some of them were able to return with the hope of rebuilding and restoration. In as much as it was Gods people who intended to build, they still needed favor from a king, and that favor was granted by King Cyrus.

King Cyrus was not a Jew. He was a Persian. Persia is our present-day country of Iran. As it is today, the Persian people had a different entity that they celebrated. They practiced a spiritual life called “Zoroastrianism” that existed in those times and still exists today. The name of the Zoroastrian god was “Ahura Mazda” which meant “wise god.” The name sounds familiar because this entity was the inspiration for the name of the car company "Mazda." In other words, the Persians did not serve the God of the Israelites. Despite this controversial fact, God still allowed a situation to develop where His people had to be dependent on someone, who, according to scripture, did not even know Him.

We tend to always look for understanding in the people who look like us, or believes like us, but some of the best people who will be assigned to you, will be the people who stand outside of the ring of familiarity. Have you rejected help from someone who did not look like you? I do not only mean that in the physical sense, but even in a spiritual and ideological sense as well. Have you been trapped by the ideology that the only people who are called to you, are people who resemble you and your beliefs?

One thing that we must realize is that we are all creations of God, and you will be shocked to see who He will raise up as a helper. It is time to get rid of our preconceived notions about people. It is even time to get rid of preconceived notions about God and His methodology. His ways are not like our ways because He sees the bigger picture. It is time for us to break out of the mental limitations that we have placed on ourselves, and open up to the unconventional ways of God.