Zechariah 8:19 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.
Don’t Wring Your Hands; Roll Up Your Sleeves
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Jack Reagan was not an exceptionally happy man. He was somewhat dour in his disposition, but he married a woman who was his completer. She was in some ways his opposite. Nell Reagan was an optimistic, energetic lady. She would sometimes tell her two boys, “Don’t wring your hands; roll up your sleeves.” That seemed to characterize her mindset. That also came to be much the attitude that her son, Ronald Reagan, had throughout his life, including when he was President of the United States.
That, in some sense, was God’s message to the remnant of His people who had returned from captivity to Jerusalem. These were the people whom God had chastened for their sin, and now had instructed to rebuild Jerusalem. The essence of God’s message here in Zechariah 8 is, don’t wring your hands; roll up your sleeves.
God’s people had asked, somewhat disingenuously, if they should continue keeping a certain fast. They had fasts to commemorate a number of things including the destruction of Jerusalem. They were living in the past. It was self-absorption on their part, not a true piety, and they needed a change. They needed to stop wringing their hands and being dour, and instead to roll up their sleeves and take action in God’s power.
Neither a fast nor a feast is virtuous in itself. So, don’t wring your hands, roll up your sleeves. In answer to their question about continuing their fast God said, “Thus saith the LORD Of hosts; the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.” In other words, God said, “Stop fasting and start obeying so you don’t have cause to fast.
God’s people needed to stop dwelling on past defeats. When I am living in sin I need to humble myself, repent, and ask God’s forgiveness, but I need to start living in obedience and start facing the future. Stop living in defeat. It is not a virtue to live in a perpetual state of hand wringing. Come clean with God if there is broken fellowship, but don’t live in broken fellowship.
God’s people also needed to stop misplacing their energies. God said essentially, “Start eating and get going.” There were questions about these fasts. God had instituted one, and they were celebrating four or five. Israel was good at coming up with ritual and tradition. These people were fasting when it was a time to be eating, gaining energy, and getting to work. Stop misplacing your energies. Eat and get going.
Notice the order in verse 19: truth and then peace. Some people feast when they should be fasting. But on the other hand, you should not be living in a perpetual state of fasts because that is not a sign of living in obedience. There is a time to fast and to come clean with God, and there is a time for victory in God’s strength.
I don’t know what your circumstances are, but I do know that there is a time to fast and a time to feast, but neither of them is a virtue in and of itself. Don’t wring your hands; roll up your sleeves. Live in truth and the peace that comes from it.