Overcoming obstacles

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are mostly about the efforts of the Jews to rebuild a temple and build a wall around the city.  It takes decades, and many people conspire to stop their progress.  Check out these chapter headings:

Ezra 1: King Cyrus of Persia lets the Jews go back to Jerusalem to build the temple—Cyrus returns the vessels of the house of the Lord taken by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezra 2: Faithful people contribute to the building of the temple. Ezra 3: The altar is rebuilt—Regular sacrifices are reinstituted—The foundations of the temple are laid amid great rejoicing. Ezra 4: The Samaritans offer help, then hinder the work—The building of the temple and of the walls of Jerusalem ceases. Ezra 5: Zerubbabel renews the building of the temple—The Samaritans challenge the Jews’ right to continue their building work. Ezra 6: Darius renews the decree of Cyrus to build the temple—It is finished and dedicated, and sacrifices and feasts commence again. Nehemiah 2: Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem—Sanballat and others oppose Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 4: The Jews’ enemies seek to prevent them from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem—Nehemiah arms the laborers and keeps the work progressing. Nehemiah 6: Sanballat engages in intrigue against Nehemiah and the building of the wall—The Jews finish the construction of the wall.

According to this lesson plan, the period of these two books spans 100 years.

The lesson that I take from this is that the Lord does prepare ways to accomplish his commandments, even in the face of tremendous difficulty and seeming impossibility.  Yet with patience and faith, if we persevere, we will discover what the Lord's ways are, and according to His schedule, we can overcome all obstacles and fulfill His commandments.