THE MOUSE THAT ROARED

Scripture for the day: Ezra 3:3 Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings.

Thought for the day: Just a very brief background – the children of Israel had been defeated and taken captive to Babylon some 70 years previous to this event. After the 70 years of exile they were allowed to return to their homeland and begin the rebuilding process. God had kept his promise made through Jeremiah and the other prophets. King Cyrus had given them letters of permission to do everything they were about in those days. Nevertheless, there were a number of people in the area who still despised the Jews and wanted nothing more than to defeat any and all attempts they might make to reestablish themselves in the area. So in the midst of great hostility, and genuine danger, they set about rebuilding the altar of the Lord. (I find it interesting that they began with the altar and not with the walls that would be much more able to offer them the protection they obviously needed – but that’s another point to be made another day).

So here they were, with one eye on the work and another scanning the horizon for any sign that the enemy was about to attack. I can understand their concern, can’t you? We’ve all been in situations like that, haven’t we? If you haven’t, just wait, something frightening is just over the horizon.

One of my favorite old movies is “The Mouse That Roared,” starring Peter Sellars. It’s the story of the fictional Duchy of Fenwick, located somewhere in the mountains of Europe. The country is deeply in debt with no hope of getting out when the ruling council decides on a bold course of action. They decide they will declare war on the United States, the thought being that when they lose the war, as they certainly will, the U.S. will provide monetary reparations as they did for the defeated nations in the last two great wars. These reparations would certainly be enough to wipe out the existing debt and give them a handsome surplus to tide them over for many years to come.

The Prime Minister of Fenwick, in order to ensure a rapid defeat by the U.S., appoints the bumbling keeper of the Royal Forest (Sellars) as head of the military and sends him and about a dozen others off to New York to meet the disaster that awaits them. Unfortunately for the Duchy of Fenwick, no one thought to tell Sellars that they were supposed to lose. Through a series of bizarre and totally impossible events, they end up winning the war and the U.S. is forced to sue for peace. I won’t tell you the details or how the story ends; you’ll just have to find the movie on some dusty back shelf at the library and watch it for yourself.

The point is this; think for a moment about what these few brave souls, armed only with bows and arrows and medieval armor, were facing as they stepped off the cattle boat in New York harbor? Vastly outnumbered, grossly ill-equipped, technologically backward, they bravely set aside their fears and moved forward. Each step could bring disaster. Death might lurk around the next corner, or the next after that. Yet they pressed on and finally won the day, not because they were better or smarter or even braver, but because they moved forward in spite of the overwhelming odds.

And isn’t that the point of the scripture for today? Are there enemies all around? Of course there are. Is there danger on every hand if we follow the Lord? Certainly there is. Does wisdom dictate that we build the walls that would protect us first and worry about the rest later? Well, conventional wisdom does. But the Lord calls us to the altar first, leaving the problem of protection to him.

Now go take on your world. - Bill