Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Zechariah 1-4; 3 John 1.
So. Zechariah's job is, at least in part, to encourage the people. According to a study by Hampton Keathley IV on bible.org, the purpose of Zechariah's writings was as follows:
Zechariah was written to comfort and encourage the returned remnant to repent of their evil ways, to return to the Lord and to rebuild the temple. The people who had just returned from exile felt like their efforts were insignificant and the future was uncertain. They weren’t even an independent nation - just a client state of a mighty empire. Zechariah’s message focuses on the future and proclaims that God would send the Messiah to establish His Kingdom through the destruction of the Gentile empires and the salvation of His people Israel.
...the way Zechariah motivates the depressed remnant is by focusing on the future and God’s fulfillment of His promises. He begins by recording a series of visions which portray God’s plans for Israel’s future.
I'm just going to take a portion of Mr. Keathley's discussion on the first few verses of chapter 1 and what they have to say about repentance. There is a lot of great information on the rest of the book in the study, so if you have the time and the desire I would encourage you to read it.
Repentance and return are always the means by which the blessing of God may be experienced by Israel. The repentance Zechariah is referring to is from Jer 42:10-19. Repentance for Jeremiah’s audience meant recognizing that what God was doing in discipline was what was deserved. Jeremiah warned the people that they needed to stay and face the discipline from God (i.e. go into exile to Babylon). What is the message of Habakkuk? The just shall live by faith and faithfulness. Habakkuk said he would wait on the Lord. So the right response of the people to Jeremiah was to recognize that this was the discipline of the Lord and go submissively into exile. To resist the discipline of God would cause you to end up in a discipline that was far worse and would ultimately cost you your life. Those that went into exile were told how to live in exile (Daniel? ) making the best of it and actually experiencing some of the blessing of God. Many fled to Egypt thinking that would save them, but they died there. So, repentance meant recognizing that God did to them what they deserved. When was the last time you thanked God for discipline? We should, because it is an assurance that He is actively involved in your life and will also bless you for obedience. This is a common theme in Zechariah because they are just coming out of a time of discipline. (emphasis mine)
Whooooo-ee, when are we ever thankful for discipline? Usually not until WAY after the fact (if at all), when we can see the results that came from it. I remember after I'd been living on my own for a few months writing a letter or card or something to my parents and thanking them for some of the things they'd taught me that were hard lessons at the time, but helped to prepare me for being on my own. I sure didn't appreciate some of those lessons while they were going on, but what if I hadn't learned them? Any lessons you can think of that you hated to learn, but realized later their value?
Mr. Keathley goes on to say that too often we try to escape situations or circumstances instead of going through them - of course we do! Who wants to go every day to a job where someone is giving them a hard time, or come home every day to a spouse who seems to have forgotten all the reasons why he or she loved them, or live every day feeling worthless, useless, lethargic and depressed? But he says - [We] want to escape hard times through suicide, quitting, divorce, etc. What we are doing is demanding that God bring us relief now and if he won’t, then we will take care of it ourselves. Ouch. Did that stamp on anyone else's toes? I've obviously not committed suicide, nor have I gotten divorced, but how many things have I quit something without seeking God's will? There are times where God will say "Yes, quit. I have something else for you." But there will be times where He will say "No, this is something you have to go through."
If you are in the middle of a bad marriage, or a bad job situation, or a struggle with drugs, alcohol, depression, eating disorder, etc. and you trust God through it, you are a testimony to God’s faithfulness because most people bail out when the going gets tough.
Happy Thursday!
Tomorrow's passage: Zechariah 5-8, Jude 1.
4 comments:
I think there's an added benefit to continuing on in whatever "wilderness walk" we might feel we're on rather than just giving up. I think those are often the times when we get up close and personal with God. It's those times we're desperate for Him ~ which, unfortunately, tends generally to happen as a last resort ~ that we allow Him to draw us closer and we experience the blessing of knowing Him better, seeing His face.
I have come to almost value hardships, because those are the times of sweetest communion with God. Time with Him is a much bigger priority when things are not going well in my life. And it's not that I WISH for struggles or look forward to the next one, or anything crazy like that, but I'm "learning to lean" and it's been an amazingly rewarding lesson.
Great post! Thanks!
Great post Miriam!
Faithfulness through hard times is incredibly uncommon in our society today, and I think it's one of our biggest opportunities, as Christians, to show those around us that it's Christ in us that makes us different. It's relying on Him that gets us through those wilderness experiences.
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