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Zechariah 1:2-6

BY ELLIN M. DIZE

Zechariah was likely young when God's message came to him. God speaks to the young, old and all in-between. The question is: "Are you listening?"

Zechariah's vision came to him about a month before the prophet Haggai received his final vision. God has a fascinating way of getting his message out through a procession of human beings.

I was astonished while studying the history of physics recently to find that Newton was born one year after Galileo died. God works in mysterious ways, for the next stepping-stone toward our understanding of the mind of God and God's universe did not come for 152 years, with the birth of Einstein. God
passes the baton from one to another in God's time.

Haggai and Zechariah listened. But listening is not enough. After listening, action must be taken, and that is exactly what Zechariah did.

Zechariah delivered the message to come back to God and God would come back to them. The ancestors had refused to listen to God and had suffered the consequences.

God speaks to everyone from the least to the greatest. The word of God comes to private individuals, to teachers and even to pastors. And thus the word came to Zechariah that he might dispense God's truth to the people.

At one of my Charge Conf-erences, a longtime church member compared my sermons with others who had spoken throughout the years.

"She preaches at you," the member said. I guess that means like the prophets, I deliver the message God gives me. It's mainly about God's love for God's people, and God's desire for us to repent and change our ways.

Zechariah tells it like it is. God was offended with the Jews and he punished them. Sounds like what a parent might do to train a child: give them a time out.

The Jews had tended to their private concerns and the temple became desolate. They married heathen women and their religion almost disappeared. Zechariah condemned them since they had made so little progress under the chastisements of God.

God teaches us through our experiences. How many times do we have to make the same mistake before we finally "get it?"

Jesus will never lead you astray. I found that out back in 1996 when I was stopped for a red traffic signal in Westminster early one Saturday morning. I was waiting for the light to change green and it did.

But God told me not to go. I tried to press my foot on the accelerator, but it was like pressing on a hard vacuum of air. Embarrassed, I looked behind me and sure enough a car was waiting for me to go. The voice said, "Don't go!"

Finally, I was allowed to inch my car into the intersection. Just then, a car barely missing my front bumper, smashed into the car facing me on the opposite side of the street. Two of the three persons in that car died. The driver had started as soon as the light turned green. Car parts rained all over my car but I was not in the collision.

You never know when or how God will speak to you. God's message could save your life. God could give you the message for your next sermon. Or, God may want you to grab the baton from another – as Zechariah grabbed the baton passed on by Haggai.

Are you listening for God's message?

The Rev. Ellin M. Dize serves Stone Chapel in New Windsor.