{"id":29863,"date":"2024-02-06T22:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/zechariah-6_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T20:54:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T03:54:58","slug":"zechariah-7_1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/zechariah-7_1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Having a Heart for God Means Having a Heart for People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zechariah 7:1-14\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Zechariah\u00a07:1-14.\u00a0 As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Zechariah 7:1-7 (NIV)<\/strong><\/em>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the\u00a0LORD
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0by asking the priests of the house of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty came to me:
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Are these not the words the\u00a0LORD\u00a0proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-7: \u00a0Almost 2 years after\u00a0Zechariah\u00a0saw those 8 visions described in\u00a0Zechariah\u00a01-6, the Lord speaks to\u00a0Zechariah\u00a0again.\u00a0 This time God speaks in response to a question that the people of Bethel were asking.\u00a0 The people of Bethel asked the priests and prophets whether they should continue to mourn and fast as they usually do every year (v4).\u00a0 God responds by questioning the people’s real motivations for their past fasting and feasting — “Was it really for me that you fasted?\u00a0 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?” (v5-6) \u00a0 This is not to say that fasting is not important to God, but that if you fast or do anything “religious” with the wrong attitude, it becomes meaningless and vain.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0When you’re wondering whether or not to do something, ask God.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The reason you may not be hearing God is because you’re not asking God for His guidance. (James\u00a01:5)<\/p>\n

2. God cares not just about whether you participate in things like fasting or feasting, but even more\u00a0God cares about\u00a0<\/strong>why<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0you do those things.\u00a0 Is it for God or is it for yourself?\u00a0 Are you doing it in a God-centered way or a self-centered way?\u00a0 As a follower of Jesus,\u00a0aim to do everything with a heart to glorify God<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Paul would later write, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a010:31).\u00a0 When you consciously do anything with the aim of glorifying God, that is worship.<\/p>\n

Zechariah<\/em><\/strong>\u00a07<\/em><\/strong>:9-11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.\u00a0<\/em>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’\u00a0<\/em>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-14: \u00a0Instead of self-centered fasting and feasting, God wants His people to serve the needs of those around them, to “administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.\u00a0 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.\u00a0 Do not plot evil against each other.” (v9-10)<\/p>\n

This message was not a new message.\u00a0 In fact, as verse 7 states, God had used other prophets to speak the same message to previous generations of Jews who lived during a much more comfortable and prosperous time.\u00a0 For example, the prophet Isaiah wrote down a similar message in Isaiah 58:<\/p>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?\u00a0<\/em>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?\u00a0<\/em>
\n7<\/sup>\u00a0Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?\u00a0<\/em>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 58:5-8)<\/em><\/p>\n

However, those previous generations did not listen to God’s prophets — “they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets” (v11-12a).\u00a0 As a result, the Lord was angry with these previous generations (v12b) and scattered them among the nations, sending both them and their future generations into exile.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? \u00a0\u00a0Having a heart for God means having a heart for people.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0You can’t love God and not love the people around you.\u00a0 How we treat and serve others, especially those less fortunate than we are, matters greatly to God, even more so than fasting.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for reminding me today that You do not look only at appearances.\u00a0 You look at the heart.\u00a0 Whenever I do anything “spiritual”, whether it’s fasting, or serving others, or listening to Your Word, may I always do so with a pure and humble heart, keeping You at the centre, doing it for Your glory.\u00a0 Because You have a heart for people, may I have a heart for people too. \u00a0 May future generations after me be blessed and not cursed by the way I responded to Your Word.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Zechariah\u00a07:1-14.\u00a0 As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Zechariah 7:1-7 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the\u00a0LORD
\n3\u00a0\u00a0by asking the priests of the house of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty came to me:<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-7: \u00a0Almost 2 years after\u00a0Zechariah\u00a0saw those 8 visions described in\u00a0Zechariah\u00a01-6, the Lord speaks to\u00a0Zechariah\u00a0again.\u00a0 This time God speaks in response to a question that the people of Bethel were asking.\u00a0 The people of Bethel asked the priests and prophets whether they should continue to mourn and fast as they usually do every year (v4).\u00a0 God responds by questioning the people’s real motivations for their past fasting and feasting — “Was it really for me that you fasted?\u00a0 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?” (v5-6) \u00a0 This is not to say that fasting is not important to God, but that if you fast or do anything “religious” with the wrong attitude, it becomes meaningless and vain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29866,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29863\/revisions\/29866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}