How Do I Get Back There?

As consistent routines and structure find their way back into our lives as summer ends and school begins, it is the perfect time to reset time with God. Maybe you are refreshed because summer provided a relaxed rhythm to leisurely sit longer reading the Bible. Maybe you are discouraged after spending a couple of months traveling from one place to the next where your time was given to good things like weddings, family time at the lake, baby showers, or a last-minute beach vacation. The nearness to God you had during the springtime feels distant. You started to put in the work of discipleship which led to serving God in different ways, but things were put on a shelf and the momentum paused for the summer. Maybe you are asking yourself the same question I asked a couple of weeks ago, “how do I get back there?”

What pumps me up is hearing the work of God in another person. A lot of time this happens in my community group or having coffee with a friend. When I hear about how God is on the move in their life, I am encouraged to step back into that daily rhythm of reading the Bible, praying, and practicing spiritual disciplines. Consistency is key. I like to start small as I inch my way back. And you know what fills my heart with gratitude? God is very patient to meet me in the small moments like the fifteen minutes in my car that I give for a quick dose of God before heading into the office. God is present in those fifteen minutes the same as when I choose to get up early to spend extended time with him. My encouragement to you is to just start. Take the first step, be consistent in your time with God, and watch how quickly the momentum picks back up.

Over the last month, God has used the prophet Zechariah to pick back up the momentum in my life to want to spend time reading the Bible and applying it to my life. The message God speaks through Zechariah is very applicable to us as believers in the culture we are living in. God is committed to redeem and rescue his people. Allow this truth for Judah, spoken through Zechariah, be an encouragement for us right now in our walk with God over the next few months.

Before we read the first chapter in the book of Zechariah, it is important to understand the context of where we are in the story of God. The people of God return to Judah from exile and lay the foundation of the temple in Jerusalem but do nothing else with it. Imagine everyday walking by to see a foundation set with nothing built on top of it. Why? Progress stops due to setbacks. Remember that Babylon demolished the city and carried off anything of significance. God’s people return to Judah with no resources to start over. And to add to the dismal homecoming, the surrounding nations do not care that God’s people returned to Judah. They hold no significance on the world’s stage. Maybe this contributes to the discouragement Judah felt as they piece their lives back together and find it hard to prioritize God. Why should we faithfully obey God if it is not going to make a difference? How are we going to start over from nothing? God’s people could not see the whole picture. Judah did not trust the prophets when they proclaimed God is committed to his people to redeem them from their sin and restore Jerusalem.

A few questions I am asking myself as I read through Zechariah that I want to challenge you to consider and pray about too:

1. God’s people could not see the whole picture when they returned to Judah to start over. How does your limited sight discourage you from trusting God in what he is doing? What examples in the Bible remind you that God is worth trusting?

2. God is sovereign over Judah before the exile to Babylon, during exile, and when they return home. What area of your life is it hard to believe the sovereignty of God? Will you commit to pray specifically for God to show up in that area of your life?

3. Zechariah is one of the prophets that spoke the truth of God to Judah to encourage them to hold fast to their faith. Where is the truth being spoken to you? What are you doing with the truth of God?