Zechariah 8:1-8: The Lord Helps Us to Begin Again

My brothers, this Word is marvelous, for it tells the story of a freed people who returned to their land, Jerusalem. Only that when they arrive there, they see that it was completely destroyed. They lived a moment in which they had to have much faith in God to rebegin and reconstruct Jerusalem.

The first step was to reconstruct the Temple, for it was there that the people met to find Jesus. The temple was the religious identity of the people.

The rebeginning was a new challenge. Reconstructing the whole city, beginning with the Temple. And the prophet Zechariah was there to encourage those people.

God was with them in that reconstruction. It was as if he said: “People, be certain! I am with your in this beginning.” And the beautiful thing in this reading is that we can contemplate the view of the Lord involving His people. Looking through three of the most important dimensions to them that were rebeginning life.

The first characteristic of this view of God is that it was a passionate view, a declaration of love of the Lord to His People: “I am very passionate for Zion, I am strong in love for her.”

God is thus: He is in love with us us and thinks of us all the time, as if he was a person in love, even remain a fool for thinking of the beloved all day.

The Lord is looking to you, in this moment with a loving view. He looks to you, thinks of you in the first place, because He loves you as  you are. For God, you are a well loved child, wanted, desired. Keep this in your heart even if you feel you are the worst person in the world, God is thinking of you with great love in this moment.

Rediscover this God passionate God in your life. He is thinking of you now and wants your attention. Many persons today do not correspond to the love of God. But they are not forgotten. God has a loving view to you.

The second characteristic is that the look of the Father is regenerating. In the Word, we can see that God gives to His people a simple thing, a  vision of a plaza. He regenerates the heart of those people, he was transforming their heart with the hope of a new life. In the midst of their discouragement, God shows them why he came, a simple and marvelous vision, of which wall could be good again.

Today, God wants to touch you with this regenerative view. Allow yourself to be touched by this view than can transform your life. The Lord wants always the best for you. He wants your happiness, as he wants the happiness of that people.

The third characteristic of the gaze of God is that this gaze goes beyond, when we are surrounded by this gaze, we seek to glimpse all  the promises that the Lord has for our lives.

His promise is that we will be His people and He will be our God. He will lead us back, but not for us “to play in whatever place” in to have turned to rebegin. He brings us back and says “Now you are in the place that I put you. We are going to begin again? I am at your side and I am going to help you.”

Today touch the promises of God, of  this loving God that regenerates and gives  to you a new life.

There is a story that counts what one day God saw for humanity and decided to take a vacation for He was tired. God does not do this, but in this story he resolved to rest. Then the Lord reunites His angels and asks an counsel from them asking them where He should hide Himself to rest.

One of the angels said: “You are the Almighty, hide Yourself in the highest mountain, so that no human will bother you.” But God did not like this idea. Then another angel said: “You are  the Almighty, hide yourself in the deepest part of the sea, there no human will encounter you.” But God did not like this idea either.

Another angel arrived and said: “You are the Almightly, hide Yourself on the others side of the moon, no one will find you there.” But God also did not like this idea, Then the Lord came to the wisest of the angels and asked him where He should hide. “You are the almighty, if  there is one place  You can hide yourself: in the heart of the people.”

It is in the heart of each brother and sister that is where God hid. It is there that He hides himself. That today you can experience this God hidden in your heart. It is through fervor of  love for you that He wants to reveal Himself.

God can do all. He can retore your house to begin in little things. In this moment, He opens an album before you and show to him that your live has many good moments.

If today you are discouraged, remember these good moments in your life. Your life is not only suffering, it has many good things. Praise the Lord. In this moment, he surrounds you with his loving gaze to regenerate your life and  make you  see more. You do not rebegin alone, God begins again joined with you.

Thank you, Lord, I feel surrounded by Your gaze of love and I praise You for putting me again on my feet.

Alexandre Oliveira

Member of the Canção Nova Community

translated from Portuguese