Live Among Us

Zechariah 2:10 “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord.

When on a long trip, it brings a great sense of satisfaction and relief when you finally arrive at your destination. The kids stop the “Are we there yet?” cries from the back seat and replace it with gleeful shrieks and rapid scurries around the new place. Boys find ways to climb trees or whatever else rises vertically.

Even we as adults express our relief with groans as our bodies that have molded themselves to the seats are peeled from fabric. Small groans and grunts are heard during this process. There might be a few quick stretches and a wiping of the brow.

But it is an even better feeling when you get to return home to your own place, your own stuff and your own routine. The familiar usually ramps back our defenses and puts us on “safe” mode. It is easy to settle back in once the bags are unpacked and the laundry is done. The rhythm of life returns.

One of the negative consequences of humanity’s Fall in the Garden is that the presence of the LORD is not with us in the same way. Intimacy is only the occasional friend rather than the abiding companion. We can know the LORD, but we don’t always sense His presence.

The prophet Zechariah speaks to a future time with the LORD will live among us again. Just like the Garden experience, the LORD would be present, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The original design gets restored.

Now for Zechariah’s audience this would have been very good news. They were in exile because their sin and created a rift in their relationship with the LORD. They had not availed themselves of the way of forgiveness the LORD had provided. They instead chose to stay in the sin and rebellion.

As a result they had been forced to endure many years of separation from the blessing of the LORD. Their rebellion prevented the LORD from pouring out His care and love on them. They had cut themselves off, and they were suffering the consequences.

I am sure there were times during the Exile when they must have thought that they would never return to the Promised Land and the blessings they had received. They probably gave up hope of restoration. Even with the prophets clearly telling them of the road to restoration, it would have been hard to hear during the daily grind of captivity.

So it would have been hard for them to hear this word from Zechariah. The images of the Garden and the experiences of the LORD’s presence in the fire above the Tabernacle were distant memories, stories told by the elders who would get lost in nostalgia. It would have seemed almost too good to be true.

And yet this is exactly what the LORD told Zechariah the future would hold for His people. He would provide protection with fire, echoing back to the Cherubim placed at the entrance to the Garden to prevent return. Now instead of being outside the flame, they would be inside His presence, protected.

This could have been words of great encouragement to them. Just like the lifting of restrictions as COVID-19 drags along, the words of ‘normalcy’ would have sounded too good to be true. “We’ll just wait and see. We have heard this before.” But our cynicism can get in the way of receiving a word of hope.

What words of hope are you having difficulty hearing today? What encouragement are you not allowing in to speak to your spirit and soul? In what ways are you choosing to stay in the funk rather than rising above it?