Zechariah 1:3-6 says,...Bible reading week 28, day 5

Our passage today is Zechariah 1:3-6, which reads,

3 - Therefore say to them, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Return to Me,' declares the LORD of hosts, that I may return to you, says the LORD of hosts."

4 - "Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts,' Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds,"'  But they did not listen or give heed to Me," declares the LORD.

5 - "Your fathers, where are they?  And the prophets, do they live forever?"

6 - "But did not My words and My statues, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?"  Then they repented and said, "As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us."

Remember God's condition on Wednesday's devotional?  He was angry and very angry at the Israelite fathers.  They had taken on the gods of other nations and also disregarded God's commands to worship Him and Him alone.  So His command to them was to "Return to Me."  It is another simple instruction that doesn't need much explanation but it is sometimes hard to follow through on in the environment in which we live.  We get off track and the flow of the public opinion can start running down the aisles of the church if we don't heed what God says here.

He calls Himself the LORD of hosts meaning that He is the captain of the army.  He is the Commander in Chief.  He is the one who gives the orders to be followed no matter what.  What is coming from God is a command and a charge from our Leader so listen up and be at attention.

It is great that God gives the other side of His command.  He says, "Return to Me so that I may return to you."  He wants to return to us.  He wants to be in our presence.  He wants to be back where He once was in our lives but something has gotten in the way and that is sin.  We have not dealt with sin and allowed it to linger and sin and God don't mix.  God doesn't reside with sin, He provided the solution to eradicate it.  So the instruction to the new generation is to not follow the direction of their fathers who didn't listen to God and didn't listen to the prophets that God sent to speak on His behalf.  The fathers ignored God's voice and proceeded in the way of evil in what they said and what they did.  

Now their fathers are gone and the prophets are gone but who is left?  God is left and God's words are left and so what are you going to do with them?  Are you going to follow the way of your fathers who played with sin rather than repenting of it or are you going to follow after the God who is calling out to you to return to Him so that He can be with you?  When the people of Israel are given this question they respond by repenting.  They turn from the way they were going and turn to follow God's way.  They rise from correction to obedience rather than more disobedience.  They also acknowledged that God is just and right to deal with them with consequences that they are experiencing because they are not following after Him.  It is not God's fault, it is their fault.  God acting on His justice against them is actually showing them that He loves them enough to apply tough love so that they might turn to Him.  

Is God saying to you, "Return to Me so that I can return to you?"  Has God been overtaken in your life because the ways of the world have become the way of your life?  Do you need to repent and does the church need to repent of not listening to the Commander in Chief and His appointed officers?  God is speaking and leading but are we listening and obeying or are we experiencing the consequences of our just God justly putting us in a head lock to make us compare the way of the world and the way of God?  Let us pray.

"Lord, You are a loving God and You are a just God.  We cannot separate Your justness from Your love and vice versa.  May we see how You love us through Your justice when we need to see where we are spiritually with You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam