23/09/2025
Cyrus was not Jewish, but recognized the power of God and let all those who had been captive and brought into exile in Babylon go back to Judah. Not only did he let them return but he returned to them all the gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar had removed from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon and had placed in the house of his gods. This way they could rebuild the temple and fill it with their sacred vessels. Cyrus was open to the action of God within him. We forget that God can use any one of us to be his instrument of grace. Think about Gandhi and all the good he did in India and by extension to the world. While it is true that many of the people who work and have worked for justice, to advance the work of Jesus in the world have been Christian, many have not. Also, you don't have to be famous or have an important position to be an instrument for God. We tend to know the names of some of these men and women such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, but we don't know the names of the Chinese students who were gathered and/or killed in Tiananmen Square, or the civil rights activists in the South in the sixties, but we do know that God was present in their midst and not all of them were Christian. God is also working through us when we give witness in our neighborhoods and our workplaces with our words and our actions. Never think that God can't work through you.
