Read: Ezra 4
Opposition to the building of the Temple takes two forms. The first is for people who don’t worship God to volunteer to help with the building. This will cause conflict and distract people from building. The second is to write letters to the king to convince him to oppose the building. The New Testament tells us we are God’s Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). Our character is being built to bring honor to God. Progress in the building of our character can be stopped by our willing involvement in things that distract us from God or from outright opposition. We need to guard against both.