I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Zechariah has a vision of four chariots which come out from between two bronze mountains. He is told that they are the four spirits who stand before the Lord. They are sent out to patrol the earth, one to each of the cardinal directions (East, North, West and South). Once they have gone out, the prophet is told to look and see that the spirit sent to the North has vented the Lord’s anger there.
Zechariah is then instructed to make a crown for the high priest. He is told that the roles of priest and king will be brought together in harmony.
The prophet then tells of a time when the people of Bethel sent a delegation to him to ask whether they should continue to fast on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple. Zechariah receives a message from the Lord asking them if they were really fasting for God when they fasted, or were their fasts and feasts really for themselves? God accuses them of eating and drinking for their own enjoyment at their religious festivals. Zechariah tells them that rather than fasts and feasts God desires them administer justice, and show mercy and compassion to one another. God desires that they not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the poor or the foreigner. They should not plot evil against each other.
How appropriate this passage is for the day before Christmas? How much are our Christmas celebrations for us, rather than celebrations of what God has done? Are we busy showing compassion for others? Or are we busy getting stuff to make us look good to others? Is Christmas really about God, or is it about us? I resolve to once more make Christmas about God. Christmas should be an opportunity for us to show God’s love to those around us, an opportunity to show that being Christian makes us different, gives us different priorities.
The writer sees a vision of all of the people who were victorious over the beast, his statue, and his number. They were standing before God, singing His praises. Let us likewise sing about how great and marvelous are his deeds. Let us bring glory to His name. In order to do that we need to be specific about the things He has done that we see as so wonderful. I will tell the story of how, when I was in a job that made me desperately unhappy, He led me to an opportunity that gave me joy. Or, how when my wife and I were getting married and because of events going on in our lives we questioned whether we should put off getting married, He gave us a sign that made His will clear (when we approached the caterer where we wanted to have our reception, he told us that he had no open Saturdays for the next two years…except for the date we wanted that had just been become available because the couple that had reserved it had cancelled the day before). Never forget to tell your stories of what God has done in your life to show how great and wonderful He is. I will strive in every aspect of my life to bring glory to God.
Today’s psalm is a cry of desperation. He is losing hope. He is paralyzed with fear. He is suffering from depression. Yet, in all of that he turns to the Lord. He cries out to the Lord in his anguish. He recognizes that he is not righteous before the Lord, that no one is. The answer to his depression and hopelessness is to remember all of the great things that God has done in the past. But that is not enough, he seeks out God’s guidance and direction. He knows that the answer to his depression is to do God’s will, to seek the path that God has laid out for him.
This proverb describes four creatures that are small and not particularly mighty that through wise action succeed where others fail. Let us model our lives on such things. Rather than seeking to be mighty, let us exercise wisdom in the small things.