Life is filled with hard times. Maybe you are going through difficult times at this very moment. I have a word of encouragement for you, but it’s not my word. It is the word of God as found in the prophet Zechariah.
One of my favorite passages is Zechariah 4:6-10. These are words of encouragement for people going through hard times.
Zechariah prophesied between 520 and 518 BC in Jerusalem. The people of Israel had recently returned from exile in Babylon. They returned to–nothing. Jerusalem had been completely destroyed. They had no houses, city walls, or temple.
God called Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people to move forward in rebuilding the temple.
Zechariah is a series of visions. God used the vision of chapter 4 to encourage the leaders to restore the temple. God spoke three powerful messages of encouragement.
First, God will give the people what they need. It will not be in their power but in His power. God told Zerubbabel (the leader of the people) that the blessing and building would come “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
These hurting people needed to depend on God and let Him lead. You and I need to do the same. Instead of telling God what to do, we need to let Him tell us what to do.
Second, nothing–not even the biggest mountain–would get in the way of God’s plan. God said that the mountain (a major hindrance) would become a plain (Zechariah 4:7). It was another way of saying that nothing is too big for God.
Third, those who doubted would be ashamed. Zechariah 4:10a describes those who “despised the day of small things.” This interesting phrase described the naysayers, those who said the temple would never be rebuilt. These were the people who wouldn’t get involved because it couldn’t be done. Their god was too small and ineffective. God assured the prophet those who had despised the small beginning or unimpressive temple would see what God can do.
We need to accept the word of God as the encouragement of our lives. We must not be people who think we are the answer or people who despise small things.
We must be those who follow God and seek what He can do.
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3 Responses
…..that moment when you are convinced you can see the Holy Spirit sitting on Waylon Bailey’s shoulder and pointing right at you, saying “tell her this”. Thank you Waylon.
Thank you so much.
In 1995 my Dad had gone to be with the Lord. My Mother needed surgery and was deeply depressed, she was unable to do the business of maintaing property or her affairs. I had come to a cross roads in life. My body was failing. So many had made problems and left them to me to clean up. As the Boss, it was my job to make good on God’s Word I represented. A year of prayer and assurances from Mother my family would be provided, God would be glorified and her Husband’s request for JPM to live on if I would only rise to the challenge she offered. It took intervention on God’s part to see His Call being realized in the story of the Mom’s line from Plymouth rock, a Daughter of the American Revolution, Servants of Our Lord in her line, and my Father’s line, a son of the Confederacy coming together. People who had come to Louisiana in search of freedom and new life. Each holding onto Scriptural Truths. My Dad with only elementary education dreaming of a life with an only child who was fluent in other languages and a proud New England elite. The dreamer trusted God and worked hard. In 1941 they considered 2 fields together on their birthdays (April 9th & 10th) in 1941 and in juxtaposition, purchased by act of sale April 15, 1941. Before leaving for WW2 Europe June 1944 they were married in the church next door to his parents home on Metairie Road. Proof positive, a Dreamer’s Dream became reality, Vision. In 1947 with their new home built they saved it together from the flood by God’s Hand upon them.
I wrote on Zechariah and have placed that lesson which I taught my Senior Sunday School class into the papers of Dad’s Succession. This morning you reminded me again. “There is a great need for all of us to work together. Only then can God’s Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray it and are Called to put feet to our prayers… Matthew 9:38… Make no mistake, He is talking to us. And to accomplish the task He gave us a commandment to Love others as He Loves and continues equipping us with His Spirit to direct us. He has given us a great model for the art of parenting. For isn’t parenting showing the direction to life? Do you see the Temple that we are directed to build? Do you grasp the ‘reasonable service’ expected of us…?”
Blessings