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By My Spirit
By My Spirit
One of my biggest struggles as a Christian is self-reliance. I’ve always been an independent, introverted, do-it-myself-if-I-want-to-get-it-done-right kind of guy. That makes prayer tough! Plus, I have things to do! When I get up in the morning, I’m faced with two choices: one, I can spend the first hour in prayer and Scripture reading. Two, I can spend that hour getting stuff done. I can get a head start on my sermon and Bible class preparation, I can catch up on emails, I can get some chores done around the house — in other words, I can be efficient! Prayer seems so inefficient because it requires me to slow down and put life on hold.
Then I’m reminded of God’s words to Zerubbabel explaining how he’ll build the temple: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.’” (Zechariah 4:6). Mankind has always tried to do things on their own by their own strength. We’ve always chosen efficiency over trust. Look at Abraham and Sarah trying to shortcut God’s plan by using Hagar to bear a child. Look at Aaron building that golden calf. Look at the Jews who returned quitting work on the temple and working on their own houses instead! God makes it clear to Zerubbabel the only way he has any hope of building the temple is by the power of His Spirit, not by any strength Zerubbabel brings to the table. Likewise, Haggai rebuked the people in Zerubbabel’s day for taking the efficient path instead of the path of faith. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. ‘Why?’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.’” (Haggai 1:9)
Here’s the irony: every time I take the “efficient” route and use my personal prayer time to “get ahead,” I suffer for it. Things seem to go wrong, I have a much shorter fuse so when things go wrong they’re more dramatic, I don’t have peace so I work slower throughout the day, and at the end of the day my brilliant plan for efficiency turned out to be very inefficient. It seems like God just “blows away” my work. Have you ever experienced that? It’s because we’re relying on our own might, not the power of God’s Spirit. We’re trying to be self-sufficient when our sufficiency is from God (2 Corinthians 3:5)! “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:1a). So next time you face the choice we all face daily: slow down to seek God or speed up to “get stuff done,” remember God’s words to Zerubbabel: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.’”
