{"id":29873,"date":"2024-02-08T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/zechariah-8_1-13-copy-3\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T21:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T04:11:15","slug":"zechariah-8_14-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/zechariah-8_14-23\/","title":{"rendered":"God Turns Your Mourning into Dancing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zechariah 8:14-23 <\/strong>\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Zechariah\u00a08:14-23.\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\u00a08:14-15 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me,” says the LORD Almighty,
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>“so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a014-15: \u00a0Here God continues to give words of reassurance to the people of Judah.\u00a0 Notice how the word \u201cdetermined\u201d shows up twice in these verses.\u00a0 In His justice God determined (or purposed, decided, made plans) to bring disaster upon the people of Judah for their sins (v14) and now in His mercy He has determined to do good to these people again (v15).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God is sovereign.\u00a0 That means He can do whatever He wants to do and no one can stop Him.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0As the King above every king, God can do whatever determines to do.\u00a0\u00a0Thankfully God is not only sovereign in His power, but also compassionate in His mercy.<\/strong>\u00a0 We see this in verses\u00a014-15 where God decides to show grace and do good to Jerusalem and Judah, instead of bringing disaster upon them.<\/p>\n

Zechariah\u00a08:16-17 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-17: \u00a0God is just.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0He expects His people to speak truthfully, administer justice, and not to plot evil against one another.\u00a0 God hates lying, injustice and scheming.<\/p>\n

Zechariah\u00a08:18-19 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>Again the word of the LORD Almighty came to me.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>This is what the LORD Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-19: \u00a0Here\u00a0God promises that He will turn His people’s fasting into feasting, their mourning into dancing.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0God did that for us too when He sent His Son Jesus Christ for us.\u00a0 Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension to heaven give us reason to rejoice and to dance.\u00a0 As David writes in Psalm 30:11, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy”.<\/p>\n

When the end of verse 19 says “Love truth and peace”, I am reminded that Jesus is the truth (John\u00a014:6) and Jesus is our peace (Ephesians\u00a02:14).\u00a0 To love truth and peace means to love Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zechariah\u00a08:20-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come,
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the LORD and seek the LORD Almighty. I myself am going.’
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to entreat him.”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-23: \u00a0Here God promises that one day people from other nations will turn from their idols to worship the Lord and they will look to the Jews to lead them to the Lord. \u00a0 God’s specially chosen people, the Jews, were meant to be a bridge between God and the Gentile nations that did not know Him.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s heart is for people of all nations to come to Him.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Like the Jews, we are called\u00a0as followers of Jesus\u00a0to be a bridge between Him and the people around us who do not know Him. \u00a0We are ambassadors for Jesus.\u00a0 May God use you to lead many others to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for teaching me today that You are sovereign and just. You are truth and peace personified.\u00a0 You are the One who turns my mourning into dancing, and the One all nations will worship one day.\u00a0 May I live this day to give You worship in all that I do and say.\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\u00a08:14-23.\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!
\n\u00a0
\nZechariah\u00a08:14-15 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me,” says the LORD Almighty,
\n15\u00a0“so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses\u00a014-15: \u00a0Here God continues to give words of reassurance to the people of Judah.\u00a0 Notice how the word \u201cdetermined\u201d shows up twice in these verses.\u00a0 In His justice God determined (or purposed, decided, made plans) to bring disaster upon the people of Judah for their sins (v14) and now in His mercy He has determined to do good to these people again (v15).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29873","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\/29873","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=29873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29878,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29873\/revisions\/29878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}