Third Day

“After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight” (Hosea 6:2).

When we come back to God, He brings the dawning of a new day with refreshing showers. We have a God who hastens but He also heals and revives His people. Why would we delay to return to Him?

Aren’t we like a morning cloud that promises rain and yet does not deliver? We are much like the dew in the morning, our religious duty evaporates before the sun, and we are not changed. We have burning desires that smolder and at the right time they flare and blaze forth when opportunity comes. We are like half baked goods.

It is God and Him only that can tame the heart and give the grace. The people in Hosea’s day thought they could come to God and ask for a quick release. The false prophets were like physicians putting suntan lotion on a cancerous tumor instead of calling for drastic surgery.

Will we allow God to deeply cleanse us? Will we continue to be mechanical in our words and ways before the Lord? God’s desire is for us to stay before Him and surrender everything daily in dependence before and upon Him. “On the third day He will raise us up, if we will live in His sight.” Blind optimism if not the order of this day. We must seek Him and not delay.

“Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house, opposite the king’s house; and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entrance of the house” (Esther 5:1).

The nation of Israel was in trouble. Haman fooled the king into slaughtering innocent people. Mordecai publicly displayed his grief and allowed people to know his position. He would not stand by and do nothing while authorities were about to slaughter his people, including children.

Esther was God’s prepared servant for that hour. She was willing to die, “If I perish, I perish.” She became a living sacrifice to accomplish the work of God.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to remind us that we do not serve God alone. Serve God and you will be surprised of those who show up. God has His people.

“And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the king” (Ezra 6:15).

Remember that God is in control. When the words and actions of world leaders disturb you, remember that God is on His throne and has all things under control.

Israel had rejected God’s warnings of judgment, but the prophet’s word came through. Jeremiah warned, cried, and the people ignored and rejected God’s warning to their own well being. The temples was torn down and the people of God were exiled in a land of idols.

Yet, God still restored His people to the land as promised. He used a pagan ruler by the name of Cyrus to fulfill prophecy. The temple was rebuilt and great joy was found in the midst. Over seventy years in captivity, tears that soaked the clothing and the ground, God made a way for His people to get back into the land of His choosing.

The trip was difficult for the Jews, life in the land was demanding; however, the courageous Jews paid the price to do God’s will. No matter how you and I may have failed in the past, God gives us the opportunity for a new beginning. God is still at work!

“Return, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 20:5).

Hezekiah, the king, the captain of God’s people, was a godly man but he had great troubles heaped upon him. His country was under siege and he was deathly sick. National crisis is bad enough but to have a personal crisis is trouble piled high.

What do you do? He turned to the Lord with tears and used the means God had given him for healing. Sometimes God will alter things in His universe just to meet our needs. Sometimes God heals on earth and other times He heals in glory.

Friend, we do not know when we will die, but we do know we will. It is up to us to live and to live well in the power of the Spirit of the living God. To live in lethargy, complacency, or self-sufficiency, is to live with the threat of settling down in a world that is cursed with sin and death.

This is not God’s best. God’s best is to allow our needs to continually drive us to Him upon our knees and for each of us to stay close to Him. Let your troubles drive you to Christ. This is the power of the third day. And by the way, we are all terminal, for we do not know when or where, but we do know we will not live forever in this body of clay.

“So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day” (I Kings 12:12).

The decision of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, would break or unite the kingdom that God brought together under the headship of David and Solomon. What would he do?

Rehoboam met with the older elders and then with the younger group, his peers. Who would he listen to? He didn’t listen to God who was above. Instead of turning to a multitude of counselors–he listened to his peers–he already knew what he would answer the people of Israel when they returned the third day.

If the decision does not lead by serving, to lighten the loads that people carry, and that which takes us to the throne of God, then it is a bad decision. The king used his people to build his agenda which resulted in a divided people and nation.

The Lord Jesus grew up with the people. He served them, loved them, and lifted their loads by taking the heavier loads. A leader leads by serving, asking God, and leaning upon Him no matter the cost.

Are you leading by serving or leading by selfishness? We are all leaders but the question is “How are we leading?” A true servant puts himself last while a selfish leader desires his desires.