Let your hands be strong

Let your hands be strong
https://www.esv.org/Zechariah8:9
Week 16: 13/04/2023. Thu

"Let your hands be strong" was the message of the LORD of hosts to His people then (Zechariah 8:9). How can your hands be strong for the work that the LORD had assigned each of us before we call it a day?

The LORD's part in "let your hands be strong" was to provide the firm foundation of His blessings and favour towards His people in at least two ways:

(1) Looking at the present: He gave words of assurance in 8:2 that He would be present with them, as evidenced by the abundance of vine, fruitful harvest and "dew" from heaven (8:12), doing much of transformation work.

His presence would reform their characters to "faithfulness" and "righteousness" just like His (8:7). In addition, look at you: many of you have more food than you need. Your savings can provide the basic necessities for generations. A reasonable income is assumed for making a living here (not to be taken for granted). As long as you till the ground, there is food on the table—giving you enough strong hands, limbs, gifts and talents to do the LORD's work now.

(2) Over looking the past (8:10) "no wage for man or any wage for beast" was in the past. Setting "every man against his neighbour" (8:10) was in the past. "Bring to disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath" (8:14) was also in the past.

It was with this forgiveness that the LORD was able to say, "so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not" (8:15). Some of us have pasts that we want to forget, either as victims or as perpetrators of disasters of all kind. When the sun sets over the past, the past should be gone tomorrow.

Yet the only way that the past continues to haunt us would be for us to gong-gong cling to it, with a hand that somehow refuses or is unable to let it actually pass.

We want to re-examine our present, to see if there are some past which we really need to let go, in view of Christ's resurrection and forgiveness. That's good attitude post Easter reflection. The LORD had overlook the past of Zechariah's audience, why stupidly bring it back to make life difficult for ourselves?

In view of God's present blessings and His over looking the past, believers today can act, "let your hands be strong" can become reality, to activate the gifts that God had given you, to receive blessings and to bless others with what you have, and bless others with who you are, diligently. "Let your hands be strong"!