So much separated them, and yet one thing connected them.

He was a pagan, they were the people of God. He was a king, they were the conquered. He was a sovereign, they were survivors. He had all the earthly power, they possessed but a heavenly promise. Yet, despite all that distinguished them from each other, what they shared was stirring. Literally. Stirring is what they shared.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel— he is the God who is in Jerusalem. . . .

Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.

(Ezra 1:1-3, 5 ESV)

Seventy years are done. The sin-polluted, promised land has “enjoyed its Sabbaths” (2Chron. 36:20-21). It’s ready to receive again the people of promise after their seven-decade “timeout.” But not only is the exile done, so are the kings of Israel. The monarchy era — the “let us have a king like the nations around us” experiment (1Sam. 8:5, 19-20) — has been tried and found wanting and there’s no one to lead the parade. Timeout’s done, but who’s gonna tell the people it’s time to go home?

Timeout’s done, but it’s been 70 years of seeking and praying for the welfare of the city to which God sent them (Jer. 29:7), 70 years of getting comfortable in a foreign land so that it’s starting to feel like home, so who’s gonna want to go home?

How’s it all gonna happen? Stir it up!

That’s what God does. He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to commission the return. And He stirred up the spirit of everyone who was ready to return. Chew on that.

Stirring it up. Literally, rousing and awakening. That’s what God does best. His Spirit kindling a flame in the spirits of both kings and captives. His Spirit making alive those who once were dead. His Spirit overcoming the inertia of stagnant religion with the invigoration of gospel revival. Apart from God stirring it up, how prone we are to maintaining the status quo, of coasting in comfort and just staying where we’ve always been doing things just the way we’ve always done them? Pretty prone, I think. But God stirs it up.

Stirring it up. For His purposes and in His timing. Faithful to His promise, faithful to His people. More than able to move “with power through His Spirit in our inner being” (Eph. 3:16).

Even so, stir it up, Lord!

By Your grace. For Your glory.