February 7 Daily Discovery
February 7 Daily Discovery
Read Zechariah Chapter 1
Turn to Me and I Will Turn to You
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
2 The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.
5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
~ Zech. 1:1-6
A failure to heed
Zechariah reminds the people that they were still suffering due to their forebears refusal to repent of their sins and turn back to God.
They got what they deserved; judgement from God.
He gently reminds them that if they continue to do what their forebears did, they could expect the same result.
So, he said, "God says to turn towards me and I will turn towards you."
A comfortable conversation
The prophet was given a vision and in the vision he sees riders upon horses riding back and forth among the myrtle trees in the bottom.
He asked the angel that spoke with him, "who are these?" The angel explained that these were others of God's angels, walking to and fro and reporting back to God on what they saw.
They said, "the earth sits still and is at rest."
The angel asked the Lord how long this judgement was to last upon His people that had been up to 70 years at this point.
God spoke back to this angel with good and comfortable words!
His time of correction was coming to a close and a period of new mercies was approaching.
A message of mercy
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
Zech. 1:16-17
Now it was time to preach God's mercy upon His people.
God showed the prophet four carpenters.
It was time to restore and rebuild.
Hosea had this same word:
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." ~ Hos. 6:1
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
~ Heb. 12:6-13
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psa. 30:5)
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