Zechariah 4:6 records God’s message to Zerubbabel that success would come “‘not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Out of the blue a modern rephrasing dropped into my consciousness: not by struggle nor by strength, but by God’s deliverance.
Zerubbabel led a city’s-worth of Israelites from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and its city.
As I began this post, I see several unrealized truths. First, Zerubbabel’s human efforts would not be the basis for the mission’s success. But then I thought also that Zechariah’s message was never that Zerubbabel should sit on his hands and expect that God would do everything. And, in fact, when I consilted the broader passage for context, I see in verse 9 that “the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it.” Then verse 10 even states that God was exceedingly pleased to see Zerubbabel leading the rebuilding effort.
From this I restate my former premise that we are to work diligently, drawing upon the skills and talents which God entrusts to us. When we doubt our ability to succeed, God assures us that victory does not flow from striving or superiority, but from God’s sovereignty and our obedient perseverance in the face of dout and discouragement. What God decrees, God will fulfill. When God decrees that we participate in fulfillment of the decree, we must sally forth knowing that success lies not in our hands, but in God’s decree, which jo human can oppose.