The One Year Bible - Day 217

I love this verse in Ezra 1 which says that God stirred the heart of Cyrus the big, bad, evil king of Persia to allow Israel to return to Jerusalem. What is interesting is that our default mindset means that everyone who isn't a 'Christian' could not possible be used in God's kingdom. I'm afraid this verse puts paid to that. It does not say whether Cyrus was a God seeker or simply that God used him anyway but use him He did. We really need to challenge our perception of God's sovereignty when we think that so much of what happens is either caused by us or is at least something we deserve because we have disobeyed God and He is punishing us. God does not allow this to punish us, he allows it to make us return to Him and all the blessing that entails - He does it for our good, not His!