January 15th, 2023
Day 14 – January 15, 2023
“The Fast and The Furious”
[Read Zechariah 7 in its entirety]
Verses 5-12 – “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed”…But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears …refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit...Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.
THE FAST! Now that the Jews had finally returned home after being exiled in Babylon, they were wondering if they really needed to continue their annual August fast for God to keep blessing them. Come on - was all that sackcloth, ashes, mourning and abstaining still necessary? So, they asked the priests and prophets.
God’s response through Zechariah came in the form of a passionate question – All those years you were in captivity, you honestly think you fasted for Me? Really?! I would rather that you OBEYED Me! I gave you My instructions through My prophets long before you were even in Babylon. There’s nothing new to say on the subject; My message has not changed! Do what I already asked you to do!
The people wanted to discuss a religious practice more than obeying God. Instead of admitting their wrongdoing and repenting, the people pridefully shrugged their shoulders, blatantly refused to obey, and tried to ignore God by covering their ears. It was an Old Testament ghosting.
THE FURIOUS! Because His people had stubbornly and arrogantly turned a deaf ear to Him, God became furious. His anger is not the same, however, as our human expressions of this emotion; He did not lash out in fury without thinking. God’s GREAT WRATH is just, perfect, error-free, never vindictive and motivated by love. His wrath has a redemptive purpose – of restoring us to Him! So, like a sweeping tornado, He blew His people throughout many nations, scattering them in distant lands where they would be foreigners and feel all alone (verse 14).
Many of you who have been a part of this church family for a long time have participated year after year in our January fasting time. Maybe you too have been delivered from a Babylonian experience (an addiction, an ungodly relationship, a season of preferring other things in life over God’s will and presence). I certainly celebrate with you. Yet in your journey, possibly before your great deliverance, did God ask YOU to do something? Do not ignore or cover your ears – OBEY Him. His message has not changed.
As followers of Jesus, we do not have to suffer that same furious wrath that we deserve (1 Thessalonians 5:9 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ), but we most certainly will have to endure His correction. Twenty-one days of corporate, sacrificial fasting and prayer is not a substitute for obedience nor a get-out-of-punishment-and-consequences pass card. I’d rather not be a tornado rider because of my disobedience - what about you?
1 Samuel 15:22 - Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Onward in obedience.
“The Fast and The Furious”
[Read Zechariah 7 in its entirety]
Verses 5-12 – “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed”…But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears …refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit...Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.
THE FAST! Now that the Jews had finally returned home after being exiled in Babylon, they were wondering if they really needed to continue their annual August fast for God to keep blessing them. Come on - was all that sackcloth, ashes, mourning and abstaining still necessary? So, they asked the priests and prophets.
God’s response through Zechariah came in the form of a passionate question – All those years you were in captivity, you honestly think you fasted for Me? Really?! I would rather that you OBEYED Me! I gave you My instructions through My prophets long before you were even in Babylon. There’s nothing new to say on the subject; My message has not changed! Do what I already asked you to do!
The people wanted to discuss a religious practice more than obeying God. Instead of admitting their wrongdoing and repenting, the people pridefully shrugged their shoulders, blatantly refused to obey, and tried to ignore God by covering their ears. It was an Old Testament ghosting.
THE FURIOUS! Because His people had stubbornly and arrogantly turned a deaf ear to Him, God became furious. His anger is not the same, however, as our human expressions of this emotion; He did not lash out in fury without thinking. God’s GREAT WRATH is just, perfect, error-free, never vindictive and motivated by love. His wrath has a redemptive purpose – of restoring us to Him! So, like a sweeping tornado, He blew His people throughout many nations, scattering them in distant lands where they would be foreigners and feel all alone (verse 14).
Many of you who have been a part of this church family for a long time have participated year after year in our January fasting time. Maybe you too have been delivered from a Babylonian experience (an addiction, an ungodly relationship, a season of preferring other things in life over God’s will and presence). I certainly celebrate with you. Yet in your journey, possibly before your great deliverance, did God ask YOU to do something? Do not ignore or cover your ears – OBEY Him. His message has not changed.
As followers of Jesus, we do not have to suffer that same furious wrath that we deserve (1 Thessalonians 5:9 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ), but we most certainly will have to endure His correction. Twenty-one days of corporate, sacrificial fasting and prayer is not a substitute for obedience nor a get-out-of-punishment-and-consequences pass card. I’d rather not be a tornado rider because of my disobedience - what about you?
1 Samuel 15:22 - Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Onward in obedience.
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