We can't dig our roots in the mud and plant ourselves down in Egypt. We have to know better is in-store.
I've seen it at funerals and weddings. The presence of joyful mourning, co-existing shouts and tears. It seems strange to think that sometimes we cry when we're happy and laugh when we're sad. Human emotions are finite yet fickle parts of our existence. Learning to manage them, however, is still important.
In Ezra 3, God's people were unified in purpose (vs.1). Returning from exile, Jerusalem is becoming reestablished. Sacrifices are being brought to the Lord, and the time has finally come to rebuild the Temple. We can accomplish great things when we work together as God's people.
God's people were afraid to rebuild the altar for sacrifices because of the local residents (vs.3), but they did it regardless. They swallowed their fears and trusted God to protect them in the process. What I find most intriguing in this chapter is not that the Temple of God would be rebuilt (though that's an impressive task to uphold and accomplish). It's that many of the older priests, Levites, and leaders who'd seen the first Temple wept. They didn't seem too happy over this new construction. In fact, the Scriptures note that the younger people rejoiced while the older wept:
"With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: 'He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!' Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid. But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance" (Ezra 3:11-13, NLT).
What happens when tears are mingled with laughter and resounds of weeping are heard with joyous triumphance? I think, sometimes, we approach life this way. We struggle to rejoice in what's new because we long for what was. What was doesn't even compare to what now is, but the younger generation wouldn't know that. This is all they've ever known.
The New and The Old
Think about a 21st-century example of this. I'm 28 years old. I didn't have a cell phone until I was 16, most of my time as a child was spent outdoors, and I rarely used social media. Teens and young adults today spend up to 18 hours daily on their phones (Light University), though the average is a little over 7 hours. Most kids have a cell phone by the age of 8, and what child isn't staring at a screen with a glazed-over face when you walk into Walmart or Kroger? The world we live in now is advancing, but in some ways, I wish we could go back to the days before cell phones and social media existed. The Israelites in Scripture felt similar.
The Israelites had been exiled from Israel for 70 years. They were finally allowed to go home (to the Promised Land) and rebuild the Temple. Remember, the former Temple had been destroyed after a nasty line of unsuccessful kings throughout all of 2 Chronicles.
After planning, gathering materials, and laying the foundation, it was time. The hard work was completed, the blood, sweat, and tears were expelled, and the new Temple of the Lord was finished. Some had joy, grinning from ear to ear. But the older people wept for what they'd lost.
The weeping and joyful shouts were mingled together into one sound. The KJV notes our key verses this way:
"And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off" (Ezra 3:11-13, KJV).
Verse 13 notes that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping. It doesn't say that this was wrong, inappropriate, or unacceptable. No one condemned the other for expressing how they felt. Someone needs to know that today.
It's Okay to Mourn
It's okay to mourn what was.
It's okay to mourn what will never be.
It's okay to long for relationships that may never be repaired and dreams that are least likely to happen.
But we have to keep going.
We can't stay in our mourning forever.
We may feel the grief, trauma, and sadness of a given circumstance. It's good, healthy, and appropriate to express and feel these feelings rather than shoving them down and out. It's okay to long for what once was. To process, journal, reflect, and grow. But we must not allow those emotions to rule our lives.
At 28, I often look back at who I was and who I am now. The happy, illness-free girl I was in college to the emotional, depressed, 10+ illnesses woman I am now. I need to process, grieve, and mourn who I was. What I was. All that I was capable of and thought I would become. There's nothing wrong with that, and that's okay. Many of you need to do the same.
It's okay to miss a healthier, happier version of yourself. It's even okay and normal to mourn what you or someone else may never be. But we can't stay there. We can't dig our roots in the mud and plant ourselves down in Egypt. We have to know better is in-store.
Like pouring new wine into old wineskins doesn't work, we have to move on. We have to embrace new wine, new wineskins, and new seasons:
"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better' " (Luke 5:37-39, NKJV).
Many around you won't understand the struggle to move on. Why do you have and experience such sadness among great joy? The younger generation didn't get this with the older priests, Levites, and neighbors, I'm sure. Regardless, they stayed together. Some weeping and some rejoicing.
Those who only knew life without a Temple rejoiced. Those who knew the first glory saw this foundation as inferior and wept. Together, joyful mourning resounded.
A Call for New Beginnings
We must not despise small, humble beginnings. Zechariah 4:10 reminds us of this: "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand" (NLT). Even when things don't look like what we would desire or expect, let us not look down on the events unfolding before us.
The older people mourned at this new foundation, but they didn't stay there. The younger people saw the mourning and didn't stop or rebuke the older crowd for shedding their tears. I imagine the two groups comforted one another as brothers and sisters in Christ are called to do. To bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). To share in the rejoicing and mourning, for both are equally important facets of life (Romans 12:15).
Isn't that a picture of the modern-day Church, regardless? Those weeping and rejoicing together in harmony. And once they'd both felt what they were feeling, they pressed on. Opposition would come (Ezra 4), rebuilding would even pause (Ezra 4:23), and be threatened (Ezra 5), but eventually, new wine would result (Ezra 6).
A new Temple would be rebuilt. God would do even greater things with a small, humble beginning. And He does the same with us no matter where we are, or how much we long for that old Temple. Because He sees us, and all our emotions—and He cares for us as a loving Father should.
Agape, Amber
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/RgStudio
