September 23, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Together they will be like warriors in battle trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets. They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.” (Zechariah 10.5)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Who are “they”? They sounds like a pretty big word representing a whole lot of people. We might remember that Israel has always been cast in a “small” way. The modern terminology might sound like this when Israel is mentioned- “us against the world.” We have Abraham who was promised by God to be a “father of nations” if he puts his faith in God. We have Noah saved out of a cast of thousands, perhaps millions, from a flood of judgment. We have Joseph, one of twelve brothers, who had visions which his brothers hated portraying the greater number serving the lesser number. (Interestingly enough, those same brothers became protective of their “baby” brother, Benjamin, who was less than Joseph but then the most favored son of Isaac. Whom did they really end up serving?) We have David, a young shepherd boy (not a shepherd man) who was not chosen to fight alongside his brothers but instead was a delivery boy to the front lines. The outlook on Israel has always been on a diminishing perspective with a vanishing horizon. That is, except in God’s eyes. Nations believed they could eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. It is a thought of peril which exists to this day. Yet, it is that same “small” group which God calls out to the rest of the world, “those who bless Israel, I will bless; those who curse Israel, I will curse.” Didn’t even Jesus say to the disciples and the surrounding crowd, “For to such belongs the kingdom of Heaven, those who have faith like a little child”? Didn’t Jesus teach “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, then you could say to this mountain be cast into the sea or to that plain be lifted up“? Are these not “they”?

So, in this word to Zechariah, we have our vision collected into one focal point. The focal point actually is God. We heard it in verse three this way: “for the Lord Almighty will care for His flock.” Too many want to put the scope on Israel. Too many make the mistake of chopping down a forest into order to eliminate a tree. (Amazing, sadly, that I watch communities take down old and mature trees who have reached the end of the lifespan but never plant a new tree. Something similar as to the rainforests of South America and southeast Asia. These efforts reduce the oxygen producers as effective as does polluting the world’s oceans. This is no small effort but then the oceans and the forests are seen by corporate giants as just a little thing.) In all of these battles against Israel we will find the background noise of “your God is a small god.” “The battle is the Lord’s” is a common theme throughout the Old Testament. It confirms the truth of how we must trust God who is fighting the ultimate battle for us. It is not because we are incapable but because it is God’s duty out of love for His creation. The common mistake is that we want to step back in our “smallness” and let God fight for us; more so “instead of us.” Nothing will be further from the truth than to abdicate our place in the work of God on earth. It is here that I may suggest that we have an even more refined “human” focal point which seems small to others but great to us. That “human” focal point is none other than Jesus of Nazareth (Nathanael’s response “Can anything good come from Nazareth? indicates a smallness of thinking about Nazareth. What Nathanael does not yet know is that Jesus comes from Bethlehem which is another “small” town. The story of His birth to parents whose lineage actually is derived from Judah in the south though they are from Nazareth in the north, was never a subject of conversation. Yet, messianic prophecies are resplendent in the singularity of this “small” focal point of identifying who is the Messiah of God as from the line of David.)

So, who is this “they”? Who are “they” in verse 5? We have been brought along on a great journey from the remnants in Babylon who are returning. We travel up and over the Fertile Crescent to “go up” to Jerusalem. We pass through the land of the Diaspora which are the nations where the Jewish population has been scattered by their enemies. Those who have kept their faith may be small in number in each country and community but suddenly this pilgrimage of faith is gaining momentum. Faith has a way of doing this for those who “keep the faith.” As the journey continues, God is working to effect the change of nations whose leadership dares to consider the appropriateness of honoring the God of Israel even if they are skeptical about the people. We see such a change happening with Darius the Mede. Now the “lost tribes” are gathered together. Their faith becomes the fulfillment of “iron sharpening iron” and their mettle strengthens the resolve of the Messianic leadership which God shall provide. Again the focal point is not on Israel as much as it is on God. They are not merely a people. They are a people of God. He is not just “one god among many” as the nations surrounding Israel have led themselves to believe. He is the One, True and Only God of heaven and earth. God is no longer a “small” thing. Nor are His people a “small” community. They are a “THEY.” They are a force to be reckoned with as long as they “keep the faith.”

What is critical for us, mighty ones of God, is the “no small thing” which these verses allude to. Again, it is God who is faithful. It is God who has always been faithful. It is God who will always be faithful. The question has always been “Will the people whom God has brought into the world choose to be faithful, remain faithful and we will always be faithful regardless of the circumstances?” I pray that we will hear this question and this theme in our own nation. It has been framed for us in the preamble to the United States constitution where the invocation declares “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” As citizens of this nation we are not committing to doing whatever we want with such a diverse perspective as to create darkness (which is the result of mixing all things together). We are bound to bring to light the truth of a chosen journey which promotes a more “perfect” union. Yet, in our desire for greatness, we forget the very lesson which Christ taught and emulated, “Let the one who desires to be great among you become the least, the servant of all.” If we have lost any perspective in our nearly 250 years of existence as a nation, it is here! Government in its “stated desire” to serve the people has become the “deep desire” of being served by the people and using people from any source to effect this ill change of direction. What is the lesson we can learn from Zechariah 10.5? Is it not to put our focus on what is truth, good, holy and righteous? Is not our greatest focal point the God of heaven and earth and so centered by a tangible example of Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of that Living God? I have said it before and I will continue to declare it what “Makes America Great Again” is “Make America God’s Again.” It is time that we become “they” and not “them.”

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.