Happy Birthday to me…Happy Birthday to me…Happy Birthday dear me…Happy Birthday to me!!
What are the odds that I would have the reflection on my birthday?! So I figured I would take advantage of it. I mean, why not use this platform to congratulate myself? I am sure that is what God would want me to do with this responsibility? Wouldn’t he. I mean, I COULD look at today’s readings and try to relay some insightful observation after researching a bit the background and context of what is happening. Maybe that is what God would actually want me to do. No. I think I He would just want me to wish myself a happy birthday.
OK. Back to seriousness. When I started writing for ACM I began as a substitute writer because I did not feel I was capable of writing more regularly. But I just seemed to be getting this pull to commit to something more. So I agreed to write every other Saturday. Because “writing EVERY week!? No way could I do THAT.” So for a long time I stayed on the somewhat non-committal every other week schedule.
Then I saw that Steve Marsh had come back on board as a writer for ACM. Now, I love Steve’s writing. He is so great about taking every day stuff and using it to illustrate Scripture. Well, because I was only writing every other week, Steve had to write on Wednesdays AND Saturdays! Did not seem fair. God was now yelling at me to step up and commit to weekly writing. I kept telling Him “No” because that is not what I wanted to do. Finally, I could not ignore Him any longer. I took on writing every week. And it turns out that I really love being able to do this every week now.
Trust. I think that is really what God was trying to tell me. Listen and commit. Listen and trust. Put God first and all these things will be added unto you. And that is the message to the Israelites today in the first reading from Zechariah. Zechariah lived during the time when the Israelites were returning to Jerusalem following their release from captivity in Babylon. The Persians had defeated the Babylonians (or also called the Chaldeans) and the new King, Cyrus, allowed the Israelites to return to Judea. To Jerusalem.
But Jerusalem and the temple were in ruins. Destroyed 70 years earlier in the assault on the city by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King. There was work to be done. Walls to build, gates to erect, watch towers to construct. The book of Zechariah consists of a series of visions that he had received and used these visions to communicate God’s word. In today’s reading the vision was concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The vision begins with a worker measuring the city in preparation for the construction. Makes sense doesn’t it? First thing in a building project is to find out distances. “Measure twice. Cut once”. Isn’t that the carpenter’s credo?
But this is not just any building project. This is Jerusalem. The Holy city. The city on the hill. The light to the world. God’s city. Where the temple resides. So, what message do the angels convey through Zechariah?
“…People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country,
because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst.
But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD,
and I will be the glory in her midst.”
God will protect Jerusalem as He has done throughout the ages. From Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph in Egypt, to rescuing the Israelites from Pharaoh, protecting them in the desert, leading them in defeating their enemies. It is when they relied on themselves and turned their backs on God that trouble came. So now He tells them again…PUT ME FIRST! I will protect you.
Not that they shouldn’t build a wall for protection. But they were beginning construction without first rebuilding their relationship with the Father. Nowhere in the building plans was there room for prayer. We do not see the people gather, thank God for saving them and asking that His will lead them now. They don’t ask for advice. They grab the measuring line first. They will take care of this themselves. THEN they will turn to God.
Adam and Eve did not trust God when they decided that they should eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jonah tried to run away from God when he was asked to preach of God’s wrath to the city of Nineveh. Gideon would not advance against the Midianites unless God gave Him proof that God was speaking. After the Babylonian exile, a remnant of Israelites in Jerusalem would not listen to Jeremiah when he told them that God wanted them to stay in Jerusalem and not flee to Egypt. They were overrun by the Babylonians in Egypt.
But Abraham showed trust when he left his home to follow God’s plan. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to deny God to the Babylonian king even when threatened with being thrown into the furnace. Daniel went into the lion’s den rather then deny his faith. And Jesus Christ offered Himself up on the cross for us when His Father asked Him to.
So when we have a building plan on the horizon. Maybe it is deciding on a college. Considering the suitability of a dating partner…of a spouse. Where to live. Having and raising children. Caring for parents. Leadership roles in work and in our faith lives. Get God involved. Ask him to build a wall of fire to protect and provide us shelter and lead us. Then, and only then, begin the heavy lifting knowing it is God’s will you are following.
On second thought. Forget all that. After all… IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!
