ZECHARIAH – THE WINNING SECRET

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord… – Zechariah 4:6

“…We turn today to the man who learned the secret of being a winner, a winner in a world filled with losers.

It is one thing to see the flames of war kindling, another to live in its raging blaze, and still another to stand in the ashes of what is left. That is where Zechariah stood. Had he been born before Jerusalem fell, he might have anticipated victory as the conflict approached: had he lived to the cadence of war drums, in the very heat of the battle, he could well have cast his lot to the cause, but, what when it is all over and you are knee deep in ashes, when the hope of victory is as empty as last year’s bird’s nest?

Sin had sent Israel into slavery. Over seventy years before, the godlessness of compounded generations had finally exhausted the longsuffering of the Lord. God lifted the hand of mercy, and Babylon came and burned Jerusalem to the ground. For seventy years, Daniel had proclaimed repentance and hope in the palaces of exile, while Ezekiel preached the same in the slave’s quarters. Then came liberation. God sent a purged people back to rebuild: Nehemiah was sent to restore the walls, and Ezra to reconstruct the temple. Both Haggai and Zechariah were under command to encourage and to inspire the people. God would keep His covenant with Israel, and His witness in the world!

But, how to be inspired when everything is in ashes, not merely the timbers and tapestries of the temple, but the dreams of the people as well? How do you put life together when everything that matters is burned down? How can you be a winner when everything is lost? Zechariah laid hold of a great truth as though it were a bugle for battle, a truth that is ours today as it was his then:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord…” Zechariah 4:6

Win with God…When the prophet speaks the phrase: “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord,” he is declaring more than a truth, but is speaking the truth: no man wins without God! Success may be tallied on the calculators of men, and their totals tell it so, but God decrees, “without me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Conquest must begin at the cross or it is an empty illusion… Zechariah had come to Jerusalem in the name of the Lord, as a prophet with the Word of the Lord. He was God’s man. That is where winning began with him, and where it must begin with us. It is so with others…

Go God’s Way…no man loses going God’s way! Zechariah had little more than the Word of the Lord and His presence as he stood in a ruined city. But, someone since has noted, “God plus one is a majority in any battle!”