Day 343 Bible Readings – Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)

Zechariah 9-11, Revelation 1, Proverbs 24: 1-14

Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

I love verse 9 from Zechariah 9 because it is another prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. According to Bible commentaries, only royalty rode on donkeys. Christ was a king and a messiah when he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. I find it so interesting that there are many prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ in the book of the Old Testament.

People in the time of Jesus knew the words of the Old Testament. It makes me wonder if they connected the prophecies of a messiah coming to them when they saw the things in life of Jesus that were reflected in these prophecies. In the two new “Dune” movies, they depicted how people connected the prophecies of their messiah to Paul Atreides by the things that Paul was doing in their lives. Did people in the time of Jesus connect their prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming of a messiah was wondrously as they did the Dune movies? I often ask myself if I had lived in the time of Jesus, would I have been able to connect the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Jesus. If I lived at that time, how would I have responded to the healing miracles of Jesus. Would I have become a believer and follower of Jesus? Or would I have been a sceptic? I like to think I would have become a follower, but I’ll never know.

Day 342 Bible Readings for December 9 – Zechariah 5: 1-4 (ESV)

Zechariah 5-8, Jude 1, Proverbs 23: 29-35

Zechariah 5: 1-4 (ESV)

“Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll! And he said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits. ”Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones.”

In verses 1 through 4 from Zechariah 5, the prophet Zechariah has a vision of flying scroll. I love this image of the flying scroll which sounds like it has the 10 commandments written on it. The scroll has the names of the people who have violated the commandments of Thou shall not steal and Thou shall not swear false witness against thy neighbor. The scroll will then fly around and enter the sinners’ houses and burn them down, including the timber and stones.

Zechariah’s vision reminds that God keeps tracks of who violates these commandments and will send punishment to these people and judge them according to their crimes. The punishment that God sends will be appropriate to the commandment broken. If you steal and bear false witness against your neighbor, you will lose everything you possess since your sin deprived others of their possessions. In modern parlance, some would call this scenario “karma.”

Day 341 Bible Readings for December 8 – 3 John 1: 2 (ESV)

Zechariah 1-4, 3 John 1, Proverbs 23: 19-28

3 John 1: 2 (ESV)

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”

Verse 2 from 3 John 1 reminds us that God always wants the best for us. God wants us to have good health and wealth, which is reflected in our soul. Pastor David Guzik wrote the following in his bible commentary on this verse, “Of course, we should always remember that God wants our best and plans only good for us. Often present material prosperity and physical health are part of that good He has for us – and this prosperity and health are absolutely promised as the ultimate destiny of all believers.’

I love and absolutely believe that prosperity and health are the promised destiny for all those who believe in God. But when we don’t have good health and prosperity, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us. It simply means that God may be trying to teach us lessons on health, prosperity, and his plan for our life. God does want the best for us, always.

Day 340 Bible Readings for December 7 – Haggai 1: 5-6 (ESV)

Haggai 1 & 2, 2 John 1, Proverbs 23: 10-38

Haggai 1: 5-6 (ESV)

“Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

Verses 5 and 6 from Haggai 1 tells us what happens to us when we focus on the wrong priorities and not on the work God has chosen for us. Haggai the prophet tells us we can so much, but harvest little. We can eat, but never feel full or have enough. We can drink but we will never our fill. We can clothe ourselves, but never feel warm. Finally we can earn money but it will seem as if we can’t  hold on to it and if will feel like we are putting our money in a bag with holes.

God created us and has a plan for our lives.  If we follow God’s plan for our lives, then our life will seem satisfying and full of abundance. However, if lose our focus on God’s will for our lives, it will feel like we are running in place and never getting anywhere. I know I’ve done this in my life when I was not focused on God. Nothing ever seemed to satisfy me when my focus wasn’t on trying to discern God’s will for my life and following what I had heard. I had a great paying job, lots of money, lots of material things, and lots of responsibilities and prestige at work. But I never felt satisfied ever. I was always hungry for more, and it was so frustrating at times. I never ever had the feeling that I had enough of anything, even though I was surrounded by an abundance of many things. It wasn’t until I turned my focus back to God that I found more satisfaction with my life and that forgotten feeling of abundance again.