Sand on the Sidewalk

“So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” – Zechariah 4:6


It’s easy to say you have faith in God for some things.  But when we must have faith in what seems impossible to our simple minds for God to do, our faith sometimes is blown away like sand on a sidewalk. For example, we can believe God for healing of the common cold.  It happens all the time, and we’ve all experienced that healing.  But when it comes to believing God for healing of something greater, like cancer, our faith is easily scattered.  When it comes to believing God for forgiveness of your wrongs by another, when it comes to believing God for the return of your children to the way they were raised, when it comes to believing Him for your financial security, or even when we must believe that He will restore our marriage, our faith can be blown as thin as sand on a sidewalk.

Zechariah’s vision from God was one to increase his faith and to refocus his vision.  The Israelites had been returned from their 70 years of captivity in Babylon by the mighty work of God.  But seventy years is a long time, and for Zechariah to have been told that the temple would be rebuilt, he pondered just how that would be possible. 

God anticipated his doubt even at the point Zechariah was born.  His name means “Yahweh remembers”.  Remembers what you ask?  He remembers His promises!  God had promised that out of the tribe of Judah would be born a savior, and God had not forgotten His promise.  Rebuilding the temple was only one part of a larger plan, and God was constructing the plan step by step.  To Zechariah, having human eyes and no vision of the future, seventy years was an eternity, no doubt filled with questions about God’s will.  Was it still God’s will to provide a savior?  Was it still His will to use the bloodline of the idolatrous Israelites to deliver the King?

God spoke to Zechariah in this fourth vision of one night of eight visions to address his doubts.  God said, “Not by might”, meaning not by your strength or armies of strength, “nor by power”, meaning not by any authority you have or your government or other sects have, “but by My Spirit”.  God intended to provide the strength and power Himself to not only rebuild the temple, but to provide a Savior. 

God answers to no man or power for He is ALMIGHTY.  There is none more powerful, no one in charge of any part of His universe other than Him.  Friends, as your faith may waver in times when you cannot see how God will accomplish what He has planned, understand you do not have to have the answers to the how, when and why to have faith that God will do exactly what He has promised He will do.  God keeps His promises.

So let the wind blow the sandy grains of faith you have right off your sidewalk.  God knows where it went, and He will still accomplish what He has promised.  Thank Him for His faithfulness, and rest in the fact that He does not lie, and He is trustworthy.  He will not break a promise. 

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” – Deuteronomy 7:9