Author: Ash Clarkson

  • Ezra 4:1-5: Opposition and Discouragement

    We see Satan’s opposition and discouragement agenda play out with the returnees from exile to Judah. While things had started mostly well, with the rebuilding of the altar, the resumption of the sacrificial system, and the foundations of the new Temple, opposition came from the surrounding countryside. Discouragement set in. Progress stalled. In our own…

  • Ezra 3:6-13: Building God’s House

    The returnees from exile were also starting something new, rebuilding what had been destroyed and ruined. For them, it was a time of excitement and initial progress. A time of worship of God, who was making it happen and just because he deserves it. But also, for some, a time of mourning for what had…

  • Ezra 3:1-6: Prioritising Worship

    For the Israelites who returned to the ruins of the Promised Land, you might think that rebuilding homes, building businesses, planting crops, and repairing public facilities would take top priority. But you would be wrong. Their priority was to restore the public worship of God. They had it right. We are made to bring glory…

  • Ezra 2: God Keeps His Promises

    Ezra 2 is all about God keeping his promises. Yes, it is a long list of names. But they were the faces that went with the fulfilment of God’s promises to bring his people back to the land. Those names, listed one after the other, remind us of how God works to bring about salvation.…

  • Ezra 1: God is still in control

    Things had gone terribly wrong for God’s People in the Old Testament. They had lost their independence, been taken into exile, the temple destroyed. There was not much to sing joyfully about. And yet, God was still in control. In Ezra 1, God’s control over all things is shown by the great and small ways…

  • 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18: Final Blessings

    Paul’s letter closes with an encouragement of final blessings to the Thessalonian congregation. To prove that his letter, containing many blessings and also some strong messages, was the genuine article, Paul also included a personal note from himself to them. After all, if Paul’s message was a fake, then the promises and blessings (including those…

  • 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15: The Blessing of Work

    Sadly some in the Thessalonian church were not pulling their weight, and relying on others for their welfare. Paul had strong words for those that remained idle, warning them to get back to work and that their fellow church members should discipline them if not. This passage reminds us of the importance and blessing of…

  • 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5: Pray with Confidence

    Paul’s letter encourages the Thessalonian church to pray with confidence. Despite Paul’s exciting life, and the ups and downs the Thessalonians faced, Paul was still confident that God answered prayer, and so he asked the Thessalonians to pray for his gospel ministry. He did so because he was confident in God’s faithfulness, God’s work in…

  • 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: Comforted and Established

    God’s goodness to us is the outpouring of his covenant love, his love which saves us. It is a love which is always shown to us, no matter how much we continue to sin. A love which God showed us by sending Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, while we were still sinners.…

  • 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15: Secure Salvation

    In the face of a terrible coming evil, and the restrained foretaste of it already lashing their lives even then, it could be tempting to give up and give in. Instead, Paul encouraged them to stand firm and to continue to hold to the teaching which Paul had given them, both when he was with…