Try as I Might

09.29.14

Zechariah 4.6 6 Then he 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 (ESV)

I suspect Zerubbabel had it all figured out: how many men, how much money, what plan to follow...

Our Sunday gathering was really good this week – we had a missionary from the Philippines visiting and he (and his wife) regaled us with many wonderful stories of what’s going on over in Davao City. It was great. Many of us shed tears. Then afterwards we had a leader’s meeting to discuss our Royal Rangers kid’s ministry. Working with children is so important.

At some point in our gathering I had the opportunity to share with a friend about trying to sell some possessions of mine and my not having any success in selling them. The response I got was: it’s not supposed to be. Of course, in true Christian fashion I agreed. And then this morning I opened up Zechariah’s book and read: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And I began to correlate these two things.

If you want something done, you have to figure out how to do it. If you want me to do something for you, I have to figure out how to do it. I pretty good at figuring out. Give me a few minutes and I’ll figure it out. It may not be right; it may not be what you want – it may not even be feasible, but I’ll figure it out. In life I want to get somewhere and try as I might, most of the time I wind up back exactly where I started.

I think I’m hearing a divine reminder today: Paul, it isn’t by your cleverness or ability, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. I am reminded to pray and to seek and to lay my things before the Lord and let Him do what He does, by His Spirit. I am so limited – He is so unlimited.

Father, the truth is: You know. You know what I worry about. You know what I fret over. You know my schemes and dreams before they even come into my mind. And You know I scheme and dream a lot. I ask again today: help me to trust You. Like the unexpected message I received last night and rejoiced over – help me to trust You. It is NOT by all of my figuring it out – if that worked I wouldn’t need You. O God, forgive me for such foolishness. It is by Your Spirit and I will learn to be eternally content with that. Amen.