God Provides the Power (Zech. 4:4-7a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2016 11:11 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  God Provides the Power

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Zechariah 4:4-7a

            Message of the verses:  “4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, "What are these, my lord?" 5 So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." 6 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. 7 ’What are you, O great mountain?”

            I suppose that it has been a little over six years since we studied the books of 1 Kings and also 2 Chronicles, but in those books we saw that Solomon built the first temple of the Lord and he was the king over a great empire, and had almost endless supplies to build that temple, for his father David took much plunder from many Gentile nations and put all of it away in order for Solomon to build that temple.  Now as we look at what is going on with the remnant we see that in reality they had more power than Solomon for we see in verse six a very wonderful promise from the Lord “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”  Remember when we see that name LORD of hosts we are seeing LORD of heavens armies and that is a very appropriate name to be used here.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The word ‘might’ refers to military might, what people can do together, but the remnant had no army.  ‘Power’ refers to the strength of the individual, but Zerubbable strength was no doubt waning.”  This reminds me of a verse that I have been thinking about a lot these days, a verse from 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “There are three ways we can attempt to do the work of God:  we can trust our own strength and wisdom; we can borrow the resources of the world; or we can depend on the power of God. The first two approaches may appear to succeed, but they’ll fail in the end.  Only work done through the power of the Spirit will glorify God and endure the fires of His judgment (1 Cor. 3:12-15).”

            Zerubbable was facing discouragement from the people, and also opposition from the enemies of the people.  We can see this in the book of Nehemiah.  There were also facing the problems of poor crops, and an unstable economy, and another big problem is that the people were not following the Law of the Lord.  What was the answer to all these problems?  The power of the Holy Spirit as we see used by the early church in Jerusalem and then later in the Gentile nations.  Let us look at Acts 4:23-31 “23 ¶ When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, 25 who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ’WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 26 ’THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ 27  "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28  to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. 29  "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30  while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes “We say we depend on the Holy Spirit,’ wrote Vance Havner, ‘but actually we are so wired up with our own devices that if the fire does not fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce false fire of our own.  If there is no sound of a rushing mighty wind, we have the furnace all set to blow hot air instead.  God save us from a synthetic Pentecost!’”

5/12/2016 11:33 PM