The basic message of this post is  that when we are bold and wholeheartedly committed to getting something done, it will get done. Regardless of the resistance that may stand in our way, doors will open, things will work out and we will meet others who will help us towards our goal. On the other hand, when we are timid and double minded with what we are doing, we will get no where.

It can be summarised in these similar quotes:

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Paulo Coelho

A great story to illustrate this principle is found in the book of Ezra. The Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for close to 70 years when King Cyrus came onto the scene and was inspired to give the command for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and build the temple of God. Ezra 2-3 tells us that the people went back and began to build the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. They were determined and focused and this momentum got them as far as building the foundations of the temple until their enemies began to get involved (Ezra 4). These men wanted to discourage the work and reported what the Jews were doing to King Artaxerxes (a king after Cyrus, who did not know about Cyrus’ command to build the temple). Consequently, Artaxerxes ordered the building to be stopped. On this occasion, the bible says nothing about the Jews putting up any resistance,  they did not remind Artaxerxes about the authority given them by Cyrus to build the temple and therefore the work was halted for a period of about 10 years. In this time the Jews started to get comfortable and forgot why they were sent back to Jerusalem in the first place, instead of building the temple, they began to build their own homes.  God raised up Haggai to give the message that they needed to rebuild the temple and that they would not have success with their own endeavours until God’s house was built (Haggai 1).

Zerubbabel and Joshua heard the message (Haggai 1), and must have thought to themselves. “Forget sitting around, trying to be comfortable, things aren’t working out anyway”. So without asking permission from any king, governor or official, they made the decision to start the work again…they went all in (Ezra 5). Eventually, word spread and the governor came to check what was going on, asking the Jews “who gave them authority?”. The Jews, strong in their conviction answered them saying…

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple”. Ezra 5:11,12

This text highlights three points which strengthened their conviction; 1, They knew who they were (servants of God); 2 they knew what they were doing (building the temple)  and 3, through their history they knew why they were doing it (it was their ancestral duty).

This time, they were bolder, they were more determined than before and it paid off. In short, Ezra 6 tells us that Darius heard their case and helped them out. He even went as far as passing the law that anyone  who tried to stop them doing their work would be killed.

Would this have happened if the Jews did not dig in their heels and go all in, 100% ?  I’m not sure it would have.

Ok, lessons from this story which apply to our lives. At times we  can all be indecisive. Often we just do not know what we want.  Sometimes we do know what we want, but are scared or cannot be bothered to go through the process of getting it. Maybe  like the Jews, we are caught between wanting two things, one good and the other not so appropriate. The book of James talks about a wavering indecisive man;

“he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ” James 1:6-8

If we are indecisive wavering on what we want, God cannot give us anything, just like the Jews who were supposed to build the temple, but were building their own houses instead, God could not bless their homes or the temple…Nothing got done and time was wasted. In the same way, whatever it is we should be doing in life, we need to get reconvicted and focused. To do this we can take time to think about,  who we are,  what it is we are doing and the reason behind why we are doing it.

And then. We need to go all in, aware that we will get resistance, but be patient and consistently add one brick at a time and watch things fall into place.

If you got this far, thanks for reading, if you have a moment longer, please check out this amazing quote from the book, The Slight Edge

“Until one is committed there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a great respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”— W. H. Murray,…

Don’t try to figure out the whole race. Just figure out where to put your foot for the starting line. Just start. The result looks incredibly complex, but it’s not; it never is. It’s always the simple little things that take you there. Everything you do, every decision you make, is either building your dream or building someone else’s dream. Every single thing you do is either leading you away from the masses—or leading you away with the masses!” Jeff Olsen – The Slight Edge (Chp 11).