Readings for today: Zechariah 1-7
I love these words from Zechariah 1:2, “Return to Me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.” It’s an amazingly gracious promise from an amazingly gracious God who never lets go of His promise to love us unconditionally. I have to admit I had a harder time appreciating passages like this when I was younger. Then I had kids of my own. ;-) And like any family, we’ve had our ups and our downs. There have been times when I have been so angry with them like when they lie to me or ignore my rules. But after I’ve cooled down, my deep love and affection for them always returns. I hold them in my arms. I let them know I will never stop loving them. Never stop fighting for them. Never give up on them. It’s in those moments that I often feel a tap on the shoulder from God letting me know that’s exactly how He feels about me.
God has always felt this way about His people. Psalms 30:5 says, “His anger lasts only a moment but His favor lasts a lifetime.” Numbers 14:18 says, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and forgiving sin and rebellion.” We see God’s gracious character on display over and over again in our reading today. “Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” (Zech. 1:16-17) “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zech. 2:4) “Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to Joshua he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zech. 3:3-4) Over and over again throughout these chapters, God speaks words of forgiveness and mercy and grace over His people. It’s truly amazing.
And what does God ask in return? He asks us to return to Him. To love Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls. To give Him the honor and glory due His name. What does such love and devotion look like in real life? In the day to day? Listen to what the Lord shares with Zechariah, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” (Zech. 7:9-10) Returning to God means repenting of our sin and submitting our lives to Him. True repentance means embracing the ways of God in our lives and refusing to walk in the ways of this world. It means rejecting all the anger, all the hate, all the outrage, all the violence, all the neglect, all the greed, and all the selfishness that consumes so much of our time and attention and energy. It means living for something greater than ourselves…the Kingdom of God. It means loving someone other than ourselves…God and our neighbor. If we will do these things, God promises to dwell in our midst. The nations of the earth will experience revival and we will know the Lord of hosts is with us.
Readings for tomorrow: Zechariah 8-14