Zechariah is not a book of the Bible that I’ve spent much (read that as any) time in. The language and flow of thought have, wrongly, steered me away from digging into any of the prophecy books, with the exception of a few chapters of Isaiah. To tell you the truth, I’m not even very sure who Zechariah is, other than he was a prophet. That, I realize, is pathetic.
A good friend of mine wrote a blog post this morning in response to his study of Zechariah. The passage that prompted his response was Zechariah 7:3-4:
3 saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to (Zechariah): 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?
I encourage you to read his post, located here. Motives are very important to me, I try to always be in examination of my motives. Unfortunately, sometimes even knowing my motives are erroneous does not prevent me from proceeding down my chosen path, particularly when it comes to spiritual disciplines. My friend’s time in study this morning and the resulting post reminded me, to use his word, that recalibrating my motives on a continual basis is a necessary part of spiritual growth. I need to be in constant and consistent questioning myself as to whether or not I am engaging in spiritual disciplines in order to know God more fully and to worship and love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
