Ezra 8:15-17. "As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for ... leading men, and for ... men of insight, and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casaphia, ...  to say to Iddo and his brethren the temple servants ... to send us ministers for the house of our God."

Ezra had been given permission and appointed by King Artaxerxes of Babylon to gather as many as wanted to go with him and go back to Jerusalem, "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel." (Ezra 7:10). When Ezra surveyed the people who had agreed to join him, he realized this group included no Levitical priests, who were essential to proper worship. So he sent leading and wise men to a city where he knew many Levites were, and asked for some priests and temple servants to join him. We find in the next verses that they did - thirty-eight Levites, along with two-hundred-twenty temple servants joined Ezra's group. (Ezra 8:18-20)

Ezra was a very learned scribe who had it in his heart to return to Israel, to the newly rebuilt Temple, and teach his people.  One might think that, for the Jews still in exile, it would be difficult to convince the king to let them go, but when God wills something, it happens! The Book of Ezra begins with King Cyrus of Persia, who had conquered Babylon where the exiled Jews had been taken, saying "“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem; and let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:2-4). Years later, with the rebuilding complete, King Artaxerxes of Persia followed Cyrus' lead and sent Ezra back to Jersusalem with as many as wanted to join him, and with "silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 7:13-15).  Even though Ezra was returning after the rebuilding of the Temple, his return was still not easy, he had to gather people and supplies, and lead the group back to Jerusalem with everything they would need for their journey and return. But he was acting in accordance with his rightly formed heart, so he was enthusiastic and hopeful. This feeling was also being felt by others as God called His people home, so when Ezra saw no Levitical priests in his company, he did not think they would never want to leave the comfort of their new city to join him, he simply asked them to join him, and they did, in very good numbers.

This is what it feels and looks like when God is working. God inspired people, including Nehemiah, to return and rebuild His city, He inspired kings to fully support and fund this process, and He inspired wise, learned priests and scribes to return and serve His people. There may have been people who thought to try to go back and re-establish Jerusalem prior to all of this, but it was not God's time for that yet, so if there were, they did not get anywhere. If Nehemiah's or Ezra's missions had been ones they came up with themselves, and not ones inspired by God, they also would have gotten nowhere. But from the moment they each were inspired to act, things fell into place and people they asked for help, including the king of Persia in each of their times, were eager to do so. It was clearly now God's time to rebuild, and He was inspiring everyone to cooperate in that. Any sooner, and people's attitudes and resentments would not have changed enough for the rebuilding to work. The exile had to run its course, the people had to be chastened and had to truly miss their worship; the scribes and priests had to yearn to fulfull their calling; and more benevolent kings and leaders had to rise to power. God knew when the time was right and called Ezra to his mission at that time. Ezra, being a holy man, felt that call and responded with enthusiasm.

Applying this to my life, I have noticed that when I think I am called to fix a problem or perform a task, or even when I just decide to do something, but then nothing goes as planned, or I don't have the level of motivation that I typically do when taking on a new project, that is usually a sign that it is not the right time for that task, and I should let it be for a while. When I do this, continuing to pray and discern in the meantime, God often works the problem out for itself, or inspires me to take the task back up later, when the time is right.

On a much wider scale, in our Church, our country, and even our world, I think there are general feelings of confusion, lack of motivation, ennui, or even despair and anger right now. There are some people and groups with great enthusiasm doing very good things, but that spirit has not caught on yet to the wider public, or even to our leaders, many of whom do not realize how much their people are suffering and languishing. God is working, though, always - when the time is right His plan will burst forward with all the enthusiasm of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and things will fall into place just as easily. It will be a lot of work, but we will be motivated to do it with joy. For now we are, apparently, still learning lessons that we have to learn, so it is not yet time to rebuild. But that time will come, and we will all feel it when it does.