GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK! (Part IV)

GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK! (Part IV)

To briefly recap yesterday’s devotional, my original reading of Zechariah 4:1-4 led me to believe that ZECHARIAH’S VISION WAS INCOMPLETE!  This was Zechariah’s situation: God had shown him a DIVINE LAMP that was designed to produce LIGHT and FIRE, but noticeably ABSENT FROM THE VISION WAS ONE ESSENTIAL THING, FUEL.  Not one drop of OIL was mentioned in the vision, not one!  However, MY FAILURE TO ‘SEE’ OIL is in no way a reflection on GOD’S ABILITY TO ‘PROVIDE’ OIL.  The reason why Zechariah’s vision SEEMED SO INCOMPLETE TO ME is solely due to my failure to discern WHAT GOD WAS UP TO BEHIND THE SCENES! 

The reason why the vision seemed so INCOMPLETE is the mere fact that my sensory perceptions were dominating my understanding.  OUR GOD is never confined to what we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch.  In fact, GOD is never limited by our PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES.  The truth of the matter is this: GOD IS A FUTURE SPECIALIST!  It seems that, like Lot’s wife, you and I are always fixated and focused on THE REARVIEW MIRROR. (Genesis 19:26 and Luke 17:32) To wit, we typically operate as TODAY SPECIALISTS, but our GOD is a FUTURE SPECIALIST!

Allow me to repeat for emphasis: THE OMNISCIENT ONE, who knows the ending from the beginning, is a FUTURE SPECIALIST.  He has KNOWN US and CHOSEN US, long before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4 and Jeremiah 1:5) Indeed, HE has already walked out our LIFE’S STEPS.  For “the STEPS of a good man are ORDERED BY THE LORD.” (Psalm 37:23) 

QUESTION: What does God DO in order to bring us into ALIGNMENT WITH HIS PERFECT WILL, i.e. to actualize HIS “hope and future” for us? (Jeremiah 29:11) ANSWER: GOD imparts to us a VISION of our future. Much like Zechariah (and much like me), all of us can only “see through a mirror, DIMLY.” We only “KNOW IN PART.” (I Corinthians 13:12) So, when we look at GOD’S VISION, we are limited by OUR KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT IS and by OUR THOUGHTS OF WHAT LOGICALLY SHOULD BE. GOD imparts VISION, the genuine hope for all of our tomorrows, but we somehow only SEE an EMPTY BOWL, WITHOUT OIL. We see only EMPTY LAMPS, WITH NO OIL. And our frail human spirits will usually motivate us to ask GOD, “WHERE is the OIL?”

As a FUTURE SPECIALIST, our GOD gives us a VISION about our FUTURE. That is, He backs up the FUTURE into our PRESENT...and dares us to trust Him!

Let’s take a closer look at the VISION that GOD imparted to Zechariah. I love this part! Along with the LAMPSTAND made of solid gold, along with the BOWL, along with the SEVEN PIPES and the SEVEN LAMPS, OUR GOD had included something else, something vital, something mission critical to the MANIFESTATION of divine blessing. Alongside everything else in Zechariah’s vision, GOD HAD DIVINELY PLACED TWO OLIVE TREES! These twin olive trees had been DIVINELY POSITIONED, one on either side of THE BOWL that only SEEMED to have NO OIL…only APPARENTLY had NO OIL.

Now hear this!  MAJESTIC TREES DON’T JUST SHOW UP OR SPRING UP OVERNIGHT!  TREES MUST BE PLANTED!  Bottom-line: LONG BEFORE this PROPHETIC VISION was imparted, OUR ALL WISE AND SOVEREIGN GOD had ALREADY PLANTED AND ALREADY POSITIONED OLIVE TREES which would become THE SOURCE OF THE OIL that would flow through the pipes and fill the bowl and go into the lamp that would SHINE THE LIGHT!  WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!  My friend, GOD IS MUCH BIGGER THAN YOU THINK!

APPLICATION: Immediately cease all your doubting, fretting, worrying and complaining about your present circumstances.  Although your PRESENT MIGHT ‘APPEAR’ TO BE EMPTY…GOD HAS ALREADY SUPPLIED YOUR LIFE’S OIL!  He has already destined FAVOR and designed BLESSING – in, over, around and throughout YOUR LIFE!  I don’t care what it LOOKS LIKE!  WINNER-BELIVER, YOU are the head, not the tail.  YOU are a lender, not a borrower.  YOU are above, and not beneath.  YOU are blessed in the city.  YOU are blessed in the field.  YOU are blessed when you go out.  YOU are blessed when you come in.  Your body is blessed.  Your basket is blessed.  Your storehouse is blessed.  And GOD says, “I WILL COMMAND THE BLESSING ON YOU!” (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

One of my favorite hymns advises this: “TAKE YOUR BURDEN TO THE LORD, AND LEAVE IT THERE!”  My favorite line from that hymn is, “IF YOU TRUST AND NEVER DOUBT, HE WILL SURELY BRING YOU OUT!”  Children of the King, GOD’S GOT YOU!  he is large and in charge of your sitUation.  DON’T WORRY…because oUR GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!