Zechariah 1 Devotional

Mercy Running Ahead of Us

“So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’”Zechariah 1:3 (BSB)

Zechariah begins with a warning. The LORD had been very angry with the people's ancestors, who heard the earlier prophets and would not listen (1:2-4). Those ancestors are gone, and so are the prophets, but God's words outlasted them both and came true (1:5-6). So the invitation is simple: return to the LORD, and he will return to you (1:3).

Then comes a night vision. Riders report that the whole earth is at rest, while Jerusalem still lies under seventy years of God's anger, and the angel of the LORD asks how long it will go on (1:11-12). God answers with kind and comforting words. He is jealous for Jerusalem, he will come back to it with mercy, and his house will be rebuilt (1:13-16). James gives a similar promise, that God draws near to those who draw near to him (James 4:8). The failures of the past are a warning, not a final verdict. God's mercy is already moving toward those who turn back to him.

To think about: Where have you drifted from God, and what would it look like to turn back today, trusting that he meets you with mercy?