Turning Expectantly

Read: Zechariah 7
“5 Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years you were in exile, was it for Me that you fasted, for Me? 6 And when you ate and when you drank, did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?” Zechariah 7:5-6

Examine:
God honors truth, not ritual. He honors heart, not action. He honors self-sacrifice, not self-advancement.

Apply:
My life is full of religious activity but that does not mean my heart is turned towards God. If I want to know if my heart is in the activity then I have to look at verse 10; “And oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the temporary resident or the poor, and let none of you devise or imagine or think evil against his brother in your heart.”

When my pursuit of God is genuine I can expect to see my heart be cleared of unholy anger towards others and my motives will bend towards helping those who cannot help themselves.

Pray:
My heart is turned towards those who can’t be a voice for themselves. The past couple days I have toyed with the notion that maybe I should just return to a “normal” life but I can’t imagine turning my back on the relationships You have sent me. For better or worse I have offered my life to the vision You have given me. I also notice most of the religious activity in my life is turning from ritual and selfishness to a desire to be close to You. I see these signs of growth and I am grateful for them.

There are also two things heavy on my heart today that I would like to lay before You. First, my prayers are really jacked up. When I start to pray half of me doesn’t believe the prayers will work and the other half feels like something is missing. When I pray for others to experience You I don’t feel this way. It is just in my private, practical prayers that I feel like I am ravaged by awkwardness and doubt.

I am also strapped today by anger that burns in my heart. There are two particular individuals I struggle with the most but I am honestly aware that my anger burns often and my temper has become very quick. I can’t for the life of me land on what is holy and what is unholy in this. I am mostly just frustrated and I think that leaves me walking around with a short handle.

With both of these things I have exhausted my efforts to correct them. I lay them before you today, asking for wisdom and turning my heart to You expectantly.