“I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.”
~ Zechariah 10:6
Hi James and Ellen,
It is about 2500 years ago. Zechariah is excited. Zechariah is seeing something take place that God said would take place. God’s specially chosen guys and gals are returning to the land that God had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . but when God’s specially chosen guys and gals opted for if – which had them choosing to worship as an integral part of their daily lives inanimate manmade idol gods that were handmade from wood, clay, rock and metal, God had His specially chosen guys and gals taken away as slaves and exiles by a couple of enemy neighboring countries from the land that He had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . God had clearly warned His specially chosen guys and gals that what took place would take place. God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not have an excuse when Assyria’s army invaded the land area of Israel and when Babylonia’s army invaded the land area of Judah to take them from their land areas because of their defiant disobedience to God’s expectations and mandate to only worship Him through only making sacrifices to Him. God’s specially chosen guys and gals ended up being dispersed captive slaves and exiles in countries that were far away from the land where they had lived in for 700 to 800 years. 100 or so years after God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah were taken away by Babylonia’s army, Zechariah is now witnessing God’s specially chosen guys and gals returning to their homes in the land area of Judah. Zechariah is a very happy guy as he writes down in his Zechariah Book in what is now Zechariah 10 what he is seeing. Zechariah is also witnessing God’s specially chosen guys and gals who had been slaves and exiles in the countries of Assyria and Egypt returning to their homes. It is a very poignant time for Zechariah as he watches God’s specially chosen guys and gals from the divided country of Israel reunite in the land that God had given to them to . . .
Do you think that rain falls by happenstance? Do you think that storm clouds come together by chance? Do you think that when a plant takes root, grows and produces fruit is a fluke? Do you think that what takes place on planet Earth takes place because of the nefarious influence of devious spirits who have been embedded in inanimate manmade objects that are handmade from wood, clay, stone and metal? Do you think that there is a Supreme Being in control of everything? Zechariah did not doubt that a Supreme Being is in complete control of every element, atom, molecule, time and space that makes up the cosmos. Zechariah saw God – Who is the Supreme Being, as the One Who is good and Who does good things. Zechariah saw how the deceiving spirits who inhabit inert objects that are made of wood, clay, stone and metal are deceitful, falsify things, lie and mislead. Zechariah saw what seemed like a really bad situation when God scattered His specially chosen guys and gals into different countries where they had to survive as slaves and exiles become a really good situation when God reunited His specially chosen guys and gals in the land that He had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land. Zechariah witnessed the ‘seas of trouble’ that God had His specially chosen guys and gals suffered through in the foreign countries where He had them taken as captive slaves and exiles. Zechariah sounds euphoric in verse 6 to your grandpaa when he wrote down what God told him what He was doing at this time for His specially chosen guys and gals, “‘I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.”
Your grandpaa believes that God was, is and will be always in absolute control of every single life situation that every guy, gal and kid had, is having and will have while he or she was, is and will be living on planet Earth. The South American Mission leadership thirteen years ago asked your grandmaa and grandpaa to let their names stand to take on the Executive Director position of the Canadian South American Mission office that is located in Guelph, Ontario. Two other couples were also asked to let their names stand for this position. Your grandmaa and grandpaa really did not want to go to Canada to live. If your grandmaa and grandpaa had one reason to say no to going to Canada to take on the Executive Director position of the Canadian South American Mission office, they would have said no to letting their names stand for the position. Your grandmaa and grandpaa hoped that one of the other couples would be chosen to take on the of the Canadian South American Mission Executive Director position. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were the ones who were picked to take the position. Your grandpaa was asked to make the announcement at the South American Mission office – which is located in Lake Worth, Florida, during the Monday morning prayer time as to what he and your grandmaa would be doing in Canada. Immediately after your grandpaa told everyone who was at this weekly morning prayer time of what your grandmaa and grandpaa would be doing as the Canadian South American Mission Executive Directors, Doug S. – who had a leadership position in the South American Mission office in Lake Worth, announced his resignation from South American Mission. If Doug S. had made his announcement right before your grandpaa was to make his announcement, your grandpaa would have been very tempted not to say anything. Because your grandmaa and grandpaa did go to Canada, God would lead your grandmaa and grandpaa about two and a half years later to join another mission agency – OC International, where their ministry influence broadened from just one continent – which was South America, to the entire world.
Zechariah 10 (528)