19/4/14
Zechariah 4:4-7
Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?” “Don’t you know?” the angel asked.“No, my lord,” I replied. Then he said to me, “This is what the lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the lord of Heaven’s Armies. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’”
O: People often quote the part of verse 6 that goes “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the LORD of hosts.” However, note that Zerubabbel wasn’t sitting idly by while all this was going on. He was actively doing what God wanted him to do.
But it is also true that if Zerubabbel were just to have relied on his own strength, the task would never have been completed. “Unless the LORDbuilds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORDguards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)
It's not an "either-or" situation ― it is a "both-and" situation. Jesus wants labourers in the harvest, but He is the Lord of the harvest, not us.
A: We mustn't be sitting on our hands, but at the same time, we must recognise that God is the one in charge, and it is by His power that we accomplish anything.
P:God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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