SEEING DEEP
with Denise Pass
BIBLE READING PLAN
Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide
God sees our hearts. He knows our thoughts. So it is hard to hide anything from Him, right? Ok, impossible. And yet we can have hidden motivations that we try to hide from others or that might even be hidden from ourselves. But hidden motivations cannot hide from God. Our motivations can become a snare to us if they are self-centered or in the wrong place. And our thoughts become our actions. God loves us too much to let us be driven by the wrong motivations. He calls them out to free us to live for Him.
Bible Reading of the Day: Zechariah 6-10
We are continuing in the book of Zechariah today. Our reading starts off with one of the visions we discussed last week, but then here in Zech 6, there is an illusion to Christ. And Jesus is called the Branch.
- Zechariah 6:12, “12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he[e] will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’”
- Jeremiah 23:5-6, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”
Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide—The Branch Reveals and Redeems
Bible Study Tools had some interesting things to say about this title or name for Jesus:
“The “Branch” is a name by which the Messiah goes in the Talmud F11, and in other Jewish writings. It is asked F12, what is the name of the King Messiah? it is answered, among others, his name is the “Branch”; as it is said, “Behold the man whose name is the Branch; he shall grow up out of his place”: elsewhere F13 they speak of five letters doubled, which are the foundation of deliverance to certain persons, or point thereat.
The first four, they observe, were accomplished in the deliverance of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, of Isaac from the Philistines, of Jacob from Esau, and of the Israelites from Egypt; and the fifth, which is the first letter of “Tzemach”, the Branch, by it they say the holy blessed God will redeem Israel at the end of the four monarchies; as it is said, “Behold the man whose name is the Branch”; Philo the Jew F14 interprets this passage of a divine Person, the Son of God, by whom no other than the Messiah is meant.”
Jesus is the Branch. He is the One Who will build the temple. He is the One Who will redeem His people. Not Joshua. Not Zerubbabel.
And Jesus’ redemption purifies our motives and cleanses our hearts. The Word of the LORD of Armies cleaned house by examining the motives of the hearts of the people.
Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide—Examine Yourself
Psalm 139 is a heart cry for God’s examination. Will we do the same? We need God to examine our motives so we can see our need for God.
Zechariah 7:5-6
“5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?”
I don’t know about y’all, but I would be pretty bummed if there were 7- years where my motives were in the wrong place. As I look over my life, I see where I drifted from a right motivation or just did things rotely, rather than with passion for God’s glory.
It can be tempting to think that the Old Testament doesn’t apply to us, but Christ fulfilled the law – He did not abolish it. And He did not lower the standard. He raised it. Our thoughts matter. Our motivations matter. And Christ sees and knows it all.
Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide—Thoughts Become Actions
Zechariah 7:8-14
8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”
Our false motivations can lead to wrong actions. Let’s examine ourselves at the motivation level before our thoughts become actions that cause God pain.
Any hardship around us is living in a cursed world, but we also reap what we sow. Even to have a thought that is haughty or prideful, or to be jealous of others or just the junk that can form in our mind, those are the motivations that God cares about. If we pay attention to our motivations, it will keep us from displeasing God.
God’s revelation of sin in the camp helps us to repent and turn to God.
Scripture of the Day: Zech 8:7
“7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
God is our Savior. He saves us from sin and from ourselves. Exposed motivations help us to be free to live with and for God, Who is Our Redeemer.
Application
- As you look at your life, I want you to consider what it is that you are doing for God’s Kingdom and I want you to ask yourself why you are doing it.
- Think about where God has placed you. Surrender to His plans and release yours.
- Align our purpose and motivations with God’s.
𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 12 𝗽𝗺 𝗘𝗧.
Day #310: Zechariah 6-10—Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide
𝒱𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓎: Zech 8:7
Join live: www.facebook.com/deniseduboispass
Missed one of the Bible time lives? No problem! Check it out on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/denisepass_seeingdeep
Sign up for the Bible Reading Plan!
The post Hidden Motivations Can’t Hide—Nov 6 Bible Reading Plan appeared first on Denise Pass.
DENISE PASS BIBLE READING PLAN
You can find Denise’s previous day series posts by clicking the button below.
Comments are closed.