Zechariah 8
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God is jealous for our hearts (8:2)
What can we do about this if we find ourselves slipping? First, God tells us that He is jealous for our hearts. Let us not continue to fool ourselves into believing that the course we are on is acceptable to God. God is unwilling to share our hearts with anyone or anything else. God does not tolerate second place. God burns with jealousy for His people. God is grieved when we give Him our leftovers. God is angry when He is placed behind our schedules that we make so important to ourselves. This is a very important lesson that our children must learn. God does not take second place. Our example must show them that this is the truth, otherwise they will see our hypocrisy and reject the Lord. Dead worship does not show our children the excitement that can be found in serving God. The first step must be open our hearts up to God. Giving God our tired leftovers also means that we will not enjoy our service to God either. How fun is it to try to read or pray when you wait till exhaustion and weariness set in? Nothing is enjoyable at that point. While I am not declaring myself as the rule of God, I personally have chosen to not willfully stay up late on Saturday so I can be prepared and fresh for the Lord on Sunday. I believe this is a reasonable choice. There are many decisions that we will willfully make that will determine where our heart will be with the Lord. Putting God first in the simple things will make it easier in the more difficult things. Consider every decision you make and ask if this is putting God first.
God will be faithful and righteous to us (8:8, 12-13)
When we put God first, God has promised that He will be faithful and righteous to us. These are the words found in Zechariah 8:8, “They will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.� Jesus also said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.� Unfortunately these words have become cliché in many ways because we hear them so many times. But God says that He can and will take care of the rest of the things in this life if we will simply trust Him by giving it all too Him. I know that it is against everything that our mind and body scream to our souls. It seems risky to surrender to God, but when we surrender, God has promised to take care of the rest. Let go of your will and let God’s will become your purpose in life.
