The year was 538 B.C. Two Jews, Zechariah and Zerubbabel, had just returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with a group of other exiles. Their enthusiasm was high, for they had finally been able to come back to their homeland to rebuild the city, restore the temple, and make a fresh start at life. However, twenty years later, after many trials and setbacks, work was slow, morale was down, and the overall situation felt like a “day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10). Then, through Zechariah, a word from the Lord came to Zerubbabel: “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
I have been coming back to this verse again and again for the last couple of months. Too often I try to do things by my own “might” or “power.” I try to think through things in my own wisdom or act in my own strength or solve problems by my own analysis or make decisions by my own perspective. Only to eventually realize that I have drifted back to operating in the flesh and not in the Spirit. Though Zechariah and Zerubbabel had been called to a particular task by the Lord, they had to be reminded that it was not their strength or ingenuity that would get the task accomplished; rather, it was only by the strength and presence of the Lord in and through them.
Later this month we will jump back into a season of weekly activities that are intended to shape us further into being “worshipers in community engaged in ministry.” Each time before we do that, we set aside an evening to come together to pray. This evening of prayer is highly important because it reminds us that any hope we have of being faithful to the Lord and to one another only happens as we operate by the Lord’s strength. The enthusiasm of Zechariah and Zerubbabel was not enough. Our enthusiasm is not enough. What we need is a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. And so we come together to pray, for in doing so we corporately acknowledge that being “worshipers in community engaged in ministry” does not happen by our own power or might, but by the Spirit in our midst.
Ben
Below are some articles I have recently found helpful:
God Matures Us Through Suffering, not Miracles