From Exile

Published May 8, 2026

Ezra 1-3

Friday, May 8, 2026 | Pete Rigali

The book of Ezra opens with a surprising truth: God uses a pagan king, Cyrus the Great, to fulfill His promise spoken through Jeremiah. In His sovereignty, God moves Cyrus’ heart to send the exiles home to rebuild the temple.

What seems impossible becomes reality—God’s Word accomplished through an unlikely source.

Ezra then lists the families returning from exile after seventy years of captivity. This moment echoes something deeply personal for me. Before Christ, I too lived in a kind of exile—separated from God in a life of sin. Yet through a series of circumstances, people, and trials, God drew me back. I was brought from exile into new life, counted among those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

But returning is only the beginning. Just as the people in Ezra faced opposition while rebuilding the temple, the Christian life is a journey of ongoing sanctification, often met with resistance. There are delays, struggles, and seasons of waiting. In Book of Daniel 10:13, even a message from God was delayed by spiritual opposition—a reminder that not all waiting is without purpose.

In those moments, I’ve learned I do better not asking “why,” but remembering who I trust. As Paul the Apostle writes in 2 Timothy 1:12, God is faithful to guard what we entrust to Him. And as Epistle to the Romans 8:38–39 reminds us, nothing can separate us from His love.

Ezra ends with the temple completed and dedicated—a place where God’s presence dwells. Today, that truth is even more personal: “Don’t you realize that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

WALK IN THE WAY READING PLAN ADDITIONAL RESOURCES