Zechariah
4:1 The angel who talked with me came again, and
wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. 2 He said to me, "What do you see?"
And I said, "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it;
there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on
the top of it. 3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on
the right of the bowl and the other on its left." 4 I said to the angel who talked with me,
"What are these, my lord?" 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered
me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my
lord." 6
He said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by
might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”
Zechariah
was a prophet of God during reign of Darius
the Great. This was in the period of the rebuilding of the temple of
Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews. The
rebuilding of the temple was being led by Zerububbel, who had been appointed as
governor of Judah. This proved to be a difficult and demoralizing job as the
temple had been abandoned for seventy years and was ruined. The returning Jews
were more interested in building their own houses than in building the temple,
and their moral character was fragmented and selfish. Zerabubbel was demoralized and at the point
of giving up.
In
this passage Zechariah is given a vision to share with Zerabubbel. This is a
vision of the great candle in the temple: a Menorah.[1]
Priests had to be on duty night and day to keep the
lamps burning. This passage is a vision of a lampstand that is perpetually
lighted, not by priests on duty, but by the olive trees that are planted on
either side of it. This speaks of the
light of God being kept alight – “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts”. Here is a word of reassurance for
Zerabubbel: the Spirit of God is not confined to human endeavour alone. God is
present in the work of the temple beyond the efforts of the governor.
We can take a word of reassurance from this. Hard work can accomplish much – but there is
spiritual life beyond human effort. We do not control the Spirit of God! We do not keep the candle lighted, because God is capable of keeping the light burning
without us. The presence of the Spirit is not dependent on singing the “right”
hymns, or on praying the “right” prayers. The “correct” worshipful atmosphere
is not a prerequisite for the presence of the Spirit. God’s Spirit is available with – and without
– the songs, prayers and invocations.
Take hope from a God who never leaves us, even when we feel alone
and discouraged. God’s strength is greater than our human effort.
Song
We like to
think, that we can handle problems on our own.
We buckle down, apply the steam,
work our hands down to the bone,
But when we’ve gone around in circles,
and there’s no place left to turn,
The Lord reminds us quietly, there’s a lesson to be learned.
We buckle down, apply the steam,
work our hands down to the bone,
But when we’ve gone around in circles,
and there’s no place left to turn,
The Lord reminds us quietly, there’s a lesson to be learned.
It’s not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit.
It’s not by might, nor by power,
Sayeth the Lord.
by Psalty
Pentecost
29 The Church of the
Spirit
The Scripture passage for
the day is drawn from Rueben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer
for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 184.
This reflection is from my own
devotional exercises for the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment