Zechariah 7:5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me
The stores have been pushing Easter for some time now. That is understandable. A lot of times when we think about Easter, we think about pastel colors, Easter eggs, or the Easter bunny. None of those things are what is Easter is all about. There is a natural tendency for things to decline from a holy day to a holiday to merely a party. Etymologically, holiday comes from holy day. So, things go from holy day to holiday to just a big party. The answer is not to have fewer holidays, to celebrate fewer things, but to eject the reason for the thing back into the thing itself. Easter is a very important event, as is Christmas and a number of other holidays we celebrate. People just need to know why they are doing it.
Often, we wonder if a holiday or some personal habit is right or wrong, and sometimes that is the wrong question. Our question is, “Is this right?” when the real question ought to be, “Am I right?” Nothing I do will make me right if my attitude, heart, and thinking is wrong.
In Zechariah 7 there was a question for the priests and prophets as to a fast that had been celebrated that recognized the fallen Jerusalem. It was a question because now the captives had returned to their homeland and a new temple was being constructed. The question was, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?” On behalf of a greater group of people, the ambassador asked the question to the priests and prophets, “Should we be celebrating this particular fast, given that things are changing?”
God did not answer their question thoroughly until much later, but at this time God answered their question with a question. In verse 5 He asks, “When ye fasted and mourning in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? and when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” The first question God asks them and we could ask ourselves is, “Why am I doing this?” The question is about if I am right in my heart, attitude, and thinking. Why am I doing this?
When my dad was a little boy back in the 1950s, his parents had him dress in dress trousers on Sunday morning. This was for several reasons that essentially boiled down to respect for the Lord and the occasion on Sunday. Well, dad wanted to wear Levi’s to church because that is what he wore on the Ranch, so Dad asked his dad, “Dad, can I wear jeans on Sunday morning?” Then he threw in a Bible passage because he knew that would have a lot of weight with his dad. He said, “Because you know that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.” His father smiled a wry smile, which was what he always did when he knew he had you, and said, “That is true, Bill. God does look on the heart and man is limited to the outward appearance, so men see what you wear and God knows why you wear it. Do you want to wear jeans on Sunday because you believe it will honor the Lord or because it is more comfortable?” Men see what I do and God knows why I do it. You are going to have to come to your own conclusions about what you wear on Sunday morning, but why are you doing? Is it right?
This is not to suppose that simply because I have a great heart, I can do no wrong. I can do good things, but have a wrong motive. I Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” So, why am I doing this?
The second question God asked that we can ask ourselves is, “Am I willing to listen?” In verse 7 they asked, “Should I weep and fast?” God answered, “Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?” He was saying, “You are asking whether you should be celebrating this, but should you not be hearing the words of God?” Verse 11 says, “But they refused to hearken.” Verse 12 says, “Therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.” Verse 13 says, “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts.” Am I willing to listen?
A conversation is not just speaking words. It is speaking and listening. It is two-way. Sometimes we ask a question, but we are asking not for an answer but for an argument. There is a difference between asking a question when we already know what our reply is going to be and asking a question because we really want to know the answer. So, if I am questioning God, I should ask myself, “Will I listen if God gives the answer?”
Third, we should ask ourselves, “Do I regard others?” In verse 9 God says to these people who are asking about some abstract celebration, “Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” James 1:27 says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” When I am asking God, the question I ask myself is, “Do I regard others? Am I asking questions about feasts and fast and not regarding the way I treat people every day?”
Holidays are important because they are really holy days, signifying something of great importance. This particular fast that was behind the question was not instituted by God, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was they were asking about things when they should have been asking about selves. Sometimes God answers our question with a question, but we should be asking ourselves questions. Why am I doing this? Am I willing to listen? Do I regard others?”