JMD Devotional 202 Zechariah 4:6b Inexhaustible Supply

Zechariah had a vision of a lamp stand and lamp that was being fed an endless supply of oil from two adjacent olive trees. This prophecy was given at a time when things seemed hopeless: a remnant of the Israelite exiles were returning from Babylon to a Jerusalem in ruins, the enemies of Israel kept putting political roadblocks to the rebuilding of the temple and their very lives were in peril. The people sensing their weak position were demoralized; but God reminds them of another context:

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit (of whom oil is a symbol), says the Lord of Hosts.”

The world is an uncertain place in this dispensation. We cannot control the economic, political and social factors that create and destroy empires. None of us are guaranteed health, strength and vitality tomorrow. Besides the external factors; we each have made mistakes which cost us dearly as lingering consequences long after we have been forgiven. In the great stream of life we have but a little control, which we must use as best we can constructively: but we know it will not be enough to see us through. We are finite and we are winding down. But God desires to be the center of our lives; the eternal source of supernatural vitality; the endless supply of spiritual oil burning in our earthen lamps, the vessel of our bodies. God living in and through and for us changes EVERYTHING. (This is how we were meant to live.)

Dear God,
When I am running a few quarts low on oil, and am overheating from the friction; please gently draw me back from where I disconnected from You. It is an old reflex, so deeply entrenched, that wants to do things in my own strength and inclination. Help me to stay connected via your Holy Spirit; lock me into vital union. May the contrast of disconnecting give me a terribly cold shudder that wakes me up from complacency; that I may walk faithfully in The Spirit of Christ.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
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Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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