Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me–for Me? Zechariah 7:5
During times of struggle and hardship people weep because of the problems. They seek to find relief from what is going on. People are quick to tell others of their problems and search the internet to find solutions to the situations that they are going through.
Zechariah records God telling him to ask the people if their fasting and mourning during the seventy years of captivity was really for Him.
People will often get themselves into extremely difficult times. When they are caught doing something wrong, they weep and beg for mercy. They are sorry they got caught, but not for what they had done.
When times are extremely difficult, people will do whatever it takes to get out of those hard times. It is common for people to begin to pray to God and promise Him nearly anything. Some will promise a life devoted to Him, as long as He gets them out of the difficulty.
Believers are quick to fast and mourn when things are hard. On the outside, it appears as though they are seeking God for who He is. Often it is more that they are seeking relief, rather than striving to get closer to God during the hard times.
The first focus of every believer should be to seek God for who He is and try to build a relationship with Him. As one does that, one will know God’s great love and His presence in the difficult times of life. Knowing those things will give the believer strength to keep moving forward no matter how hard times are.
Going through your life, you will have some very difficult times. Sometimes those hard times will be because of poor choices you have made and cause you to weep and fast to get God’s favor. Rather than seeking just His favor, seek to know God more during those times. Weep over your sins. Fast and deny yourself to get closer to God and become more like Jesus.
Allow God to be the main focus and full purpose for you in every area of your life. Make God the Lord and Master of your life.
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will seek God for who He is; that you will fast and mourn before God for your sins and to know Him more; and that you will build your relationship with God first over all else.
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This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Insights from Tom
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