Day 68
Zechariah
Malachi
It seems disrespectful to have such a title for this post, but when I reviewed these readings and my notes from them, it just fit. Especially with some verses in Malachi...where I can picture myself at God's table, eating the finest of his blessings, then asking the waiter to box up the leftovers for me to take back to God, --the One whom all blessings came from in the first place. He provides the best for me, and I often only have time to give stale, soggy leftovers in return. I feast on my obstacles and worries, and put my faith in that doggie-bag!
Egads!
I guess with that said, it's fitting that one of the first lines in today's reading, was this in Zechariah 1:2 where it says, "The Lord was very angry......" Yep, I would be too. God is and has been telling them, us, me, --that he is not to be shortchanged. That he is to be respected and honored. That he wants our sincerity and our obedience. Our faith. And we've not listened. It goes on to say, ".......'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." He calls us back again and again as in Zechariah 3:6 where it says, "If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here."
Yet time after time we choose to stand over there with our sins of doubt, or off yonder on our own. Or maybe that's just me. I sometimes feel off yonder on my own even when I'm trying to stand in the courts with God! But I'm reassured in that God notices. He notices our attempts, imperfect though they may be, to live in sincerity, honor, and obedience of him. He notices those who faithfully honor him and he repeatedly says that if we return to him, he will return to us.
So many challenges lately, so much waiting, so much praying. So much trusting! I love God's words of, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."
My prayers will be answered, my tasks accomplished, not by my might and certainly not by my power - but by God's Spirit.
I must trust in that.
That these things we hope for will happen if we diligently obey the Lord our God and give him our first and our best. Not what's leftover, not our doggie bags, but our best.
Zechariah 6:15 says, "..........This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."
God will fulfill his plan and purpose for us. God can move any mountain or person who stands in our way of that.
God will be faithful and righteous to us as our God.
The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew.
I will save you, and you will be a blessing.
Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.
These are the things you are to do:
Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment, do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely.
When we do these things, obey God, honor him, give him our first and our best each day, he will honor us...
Zechariah 9:11 says, "As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you......and make you like a warrior's sword."
In Zechariah 10 it says these statements:
I will strengthen...
I will restore...
I will answer...
I will redeem...
The surging sea will be subdued...
Zechariah 13:9 says of those he brings into the fire, "I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people, 'and they will say, "The Lord is our God.'"
I kinda don't like the kind of "refinement" I've had to go through in this "Life with Autism" -- but I can honestly say that through it, every time I've called on his name, he has answered. Not always how I had hoped, but he has answered.
When God promises all of this for us, how can we possibly live in doubt or despair. How can we sit at the table that is each new day and take in the best of it, and just barely think of him at the end of it? How could we ever doubt his timing, his purpose, his plan?
In Malachi 2:16 it says to, "Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith."
In all I am going through what better reminder than that.
Do. Not. Break. Faith.
Why? Because of what Malachi 4:2 says next, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall."
I can hardly wait!
HOOYAH!
