Zechariah 7:1-7 says,...Bible reading week 34, day 3

Today's verses are Zechariah 7:1-7, which read,

v.1 - In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

To give some historical context to the upcoming verses, it is the fourth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of King Darius.  This would be Nov/Dec of the year 518 B.C.  This would be two years after Zechariah's messages and night visions concluded in chapter 6.  It is another two years before Zerubbabel's temple will be completed.

v.2, 3 - Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to seek the favor of the Lord, speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, "Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?"

Geographically, the town of Bethel is 12 miles north of Jerusalem.  So other towns around Jerusalem have been inhabited with those returning from Babylon and being rebuilt.  When the temple was destroyed, there was a call for a fast.  This would happen each year in remembrance of their homeland and also their center of worship while they were in exile in Babylon.  Now they are back and the temple is starting to be rebuilt so would this fast still be required and especially the fast on the fifth month because that is when the temple was destroyed during the fifth month.  

v.4-6 - Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, "Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?  When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?'"

The people of Israel were in exile for 70 years and so this fast happened each year to remember their homeland and their temple but God asked them, were they remembering Him?  Routine can get in the way of why we are doing what we are doing.  Routine gets to be such a habit that the purpose of the task gets lost.  We give on a regular basis.  Are we giving to the Lord or are we giving because that is what we do?  We sing to the Lord or we come to church every Sunday.  Are we doing these routine things truly out of worship to God or are we just following suit to what we do every week or because we know that it is good for us?  Have we lost the reason why we are fasting or praying or worshiping or serving?  Have these activities become just that activities that we see as a benefit to ourselves rather than an offering to God.  

If these activities are not focused on God then we will shape them to benefit us and many times not sacrifice for God because our comfort will take His place.  We will become lax in our devotion to Him and increase in our devotion to what benefits ourselves.  People much smarter than I have done studies that show the lack of attendance in churches today is not less people coming but people coming less frequently.  We have made the worship of God something of an option to feed other desires that we have and therefore when we gather we need to question why we have this particular Sunday.  Is it for Him or is it for me?  The people of Israel were fasting but God knew that it was not focused on Him and He questions them on their question.

v. 7 - "'Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?'"

God gives us His words.  We want to change them to our liking so the Israelites want to stop fasting.  They are back and they are rebuilding so we don't have to do this fast anymore.  The problem is that the God who said it has not said to not do it.  Are they under the obedience of what God has said or are they just doing a ritual that has morphed into something to do and therefore easy to drop off?  When does obedience of something God has said turn into a ritual not connected to the worship of God?  Then how far are we to not obeying what He has said to do?  When can easily forget where God has taken us from and through and get back to making ourselves good 'ole number one.  The people of Israel lost their devotion to God in the midst of making this fasting just a ritual to observe.  

We do this today.  I do it.  I can walk through the motions with the best of them.  I need God to shock me with the paddles to get me back to obedience.  I need to see what I have made into rituals that are intended to be intimate times with God and focused on Him.  The rituals have become lax and then I'm asking the question, "Do I need to do this anymore?  Things are better now.  I don't need God so much at the moment so I will just skip out here and there.  It won't matter.  I'm good enough and God can concentrate on those who really need this."  We can make all kinds of excuses to not obey God but I think we can also transform what He says to do to be about us rather than about Him.  Let us pray.

"Lord, what rituals have I made rituals that are about me now instead of about You?  Help me to approach these times of worship with You in focus and not be looking for when it will end but thankful for the time to be with You and Your family.  I pray to not crowd You out or cram You into a little time slot so I can get onto what I want to do.  Amen."

Pastor Adam