September 30 - Zechariah 8-14: The Big Day

On the Big Day, a fountain will be opened for the family of David and all the leaders of Jerusalem for washing away their sins, for scrubbing their stained and soiled lives clean. (13:1)

What a Day that will be! No more cold nights – in fact, no more nights. The Day is coming – the timing is God’s – when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning. What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter. (14:6-8)

There are many "big days" in life - milestone birthdays, graduations, acceptance letters, weddings, births of children, moving days, funerals, medical diagnoses.  Normal events in life that I look back on with distinct emotions and thoughts and definitions for who I am.  In Zechariah, God is calling me to move my focus from the past to look ahead to a Big Day. His Big Day when He'll say to us, "That's my people." and we'll say, "God—my God!" (13:6)

The rub comes in the waiting for God's Big Day through the daily-ness, the desperateness, the discouragement of the life I live Today. Through the seasons of my life, I've been tempted to take two extremes to waiting in hope for God. One approach was to live emotionally in the mire of despair or in the fury of disgust at the fallen world and the way it impacts me. The other approach seemed much more "spiritual" - to simply "rise above" the fray and respond as if I was so mature that nothing bothered me. Neither of these responses placed me in greater dependence on God, in greater recognition of my need for Him.

If hoping is neither of these extremes, then some questions come to mind. What does hope look like? What does hope feel like?  "Does hope feel good?" (Crabb)  What did hope look like for Jesus when His future was distressing?

They went to a place called Gethsemane...He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death'.... he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 'Abba, Father,' he said, 'everything's possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'   Mark 14:32-36

"...when there's a gap between the desires of your heart and the circumstances of your life, ...the bigger the gap, the greater the suffering. What do you do when that gap gets too wide? [read: no hope] One response is to change the circumstances - to get off the path that's taking you into suffering....  Buddhism doesn't advocate that response, and neither did the ancient Stoics...they say, what you do need to do is suppress your desires. Get on top of them and become cool, detached, dispassionate....

"When you look at Jesus here in the Garden of Gethsemane, he appears to be taking the first approach. he's certainly not taking the way of detachment; he's pouring his heart out. He's undone. And he's honestly and desperately asking God to change the circumstances....

"But look closely: He's actually not taking his circumstances into his own hands. In the end, he's obeying - relinquishing control over his circumstances and submitting his desires to the will of the Father... He is wrestling but obeying in love.

"Jesus doesn't deny his emotions, and he doesn't avoid the suffering. He loves into the suffering." (Tim Keller, King's Cross)

Through Zechariah, God is calling His people to hope in the Big Day.  To look for the Day when "God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one." (14:9)  And while I wait, to fight the urge to run away from the suffering or to numb myself to the ache.  Instead, He gave me the example of Christ who chose hope in the midst of suffering - wrestling and obeying, loving into the suffering.  I'm only beginning to get a glimpse of what this means.