“Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?”
- Zechariah 7:4-6 -
About two years after work begins on rebuilding the temple, a delegation came to Jerusalem with a question for the priests and prophets. Should they continue to observe the fast in the fifth month? It marked the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians (2 Kings 25:8, 9). Zechariah does not give a direct answer. Instead, Zechariah brings a challenge from God to everyone to examine their motives for keeping fasts. Fasting and all other religious rituals shouldn't be their feel-good time but a time to seek God and dedicate their hearts. The same is true for us; we shouldn't seek a feel-good time through church worship, praise, and small group but a real God time to have the right relationship with God.
Prayer: Lord, help us to seek you with all our hearts. Make us to be true worshipers of God.