September 6, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“But I will encamp at My temple to guard it against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I am keeping watch.” (Zechariah 9.8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I would encourage you, mighty ones of God, to read through verses 9.2-7 and simply listen for the names of places and peoples who are still representatives today of those who lived in the days of Zechariah. As you do, consider what it is that God was saying to them and about them. As you consider that, ask yourself about “today.” What has God said and what is God saying to them? Is there any wonder in your mind as to why “they” would not want any reminder of God’s presence in their past, present and future? Is there any question as to why “they” would want to eliminate any witness and testimony to God’s presence in His Word to those who refused to believe in His power and authority? In actuality, their intentional thinking toward Israel today is the same as it was then. Further, such thinking exists across the globe where people live in the knowledge of the presence of the countercultural voice of God’s perfect will. Let’s understand as we remember “God does not will nor desire the death of anyone…only repentance.” From Ezekiel 18.32 to 2 Peter 3.9, it is beyond debate as to the true will of God for all people. What is that will? Zechariah 9.8 says it this way, “But I will encamp at My temple to guard it against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I am keeping watch.”

God desires that every person should choose a life of righteousness. God has defined what authentic righteousness is. God defined that righteousness with an inextinguishable example in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, His only begotten Son. And in that unalterable example, God makes it perfectly clear that each person has the opportunity to be saved from a fate of eternal death to live with God forever. Not only is the opportunity to live with God forever; it is that God will live with us forever! The choice is with each person in mind to be changed from a nature that is against God’s purpose and plan, His will, and take on the true nature which was always intended to be theirs (his or her) as created in the image of God from the beginning. That transformation comes in being obedient to God, as Jesus was, even to death as Jesus took on death Himself for our sake so that we might become the righteousness of God. Mighty ones of God, it has always been about choosing what is right and good. God’s will remains unchangeable and inextinguishable. Human will is what must change and be extinguished if it is to be all it was meant to be. What is it meant to be? The full and perfect will of humanity is to manifest the full image of who we are as God imagined us to be. This is what our singular identity should be that we ought to claim! In a day and age where identities run the full gamut of the spectrum of human imagination, we must conceive solely/soul-ly the true image of what God has shown us and desires for us. It is not putting God on our terms but reforming our terms to meet God’s.

Let us consider the “consequences.” To consider them let me offer an illustration from a fourth grade science experiment. We took a milk carton from our lunch and brought it back to our classroom. We opened it up so that it looked like a box without a lid. We put cotton in the bottom of it and wet it. We did not leave standing water in the carton. To the cotton, we added some bird seed. We each set our carton on the ledge of the classroom so it would get plenty of sunshine. We went on with school. I don’t remember how many days it was when we started to notice that some of the seed began to sprout and grow. There was a lot of excitement and fascination. The teacher had done the same with a few cartons of her own. When hers sprouted, she took them and put them in a closet. We didn’t think much about it. We were fascinated to see our growing plants reaching for the light of the sun. They all leaned in the direction of the sun with all their leaves healthy and green. Then our teacher opened the closet door and removed her cartons. Her plants were yellowish and pale. There were leaves but only a few at the end of the stalk. The stalk did not stand straight like ours. It was bent over the edge of the carton. We figured it out that it was trying to get to the sunlight coming from under the door. It was enough to give it direction but not enough to make it healthy. If it was totally dark, it would not have grown at all but wither and die. Are you getting the picture, mighty ones of God.

God’s presence is what gives us life and the direction to live. When we are not staying “in the light” we lean in the direction of it with the hope of getting enough to live. When “another” light is offered but it is a lesser light, there can be growth but not to its fullest potential. Some will find a way to grow in the dark but in weakness. Exposed to the greater light, the plants become overwhelmed. Without a changed nature they will wither and die, too. That change comes from being transplanted back into fertile soil with nutrients to sustain it and remind its DNA of who and what it is. That “change” is offered to every person. It is a choice to live in the light of God’s will and be transformed (as Paul taught- by the renewal of one’s mind toward God). Or it is a choice to grow in the darkness of one’s own light which cannot lie forever. It is a difficult conversation we must have with ourselves. It is a literal and figurative “life and death” conversation. We must ask ourselves “What must die so that I can live?” Sadly, in spite of testimony to the contrary, some and many will choose that “God” should die. Some will say that having faith in God is a lie. They will say the only truth is what they see in and of themselves. They will become darkened in their thoughts and actions with the hope of creating in themselves their own life and identity rooted in the world but not in the earth of true life which is the Kingdom of God. As you read verses 9.2-7, listen for those who accept the truth of God and see what happens. They become transplanted into “Israel” as a tribe of their own determined by their faith in God to be something new and living. There is a hope! That hope comes from God alone who is in the midst of us, Immanuel. It is God who will protect us from evil and bring us into the light of His mercy and grace. We must choose, however, to believe it in order to receive it.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.