God, Our Strength

God, Our Strength
Zechariah 10:6-12
June 11, 2023

Many years ago, a despondent looking Charlie Brown lamented to his friend Lucy, “I feel inferior.”  Lucy hopefully responds, “Oh, you shouldn’t worry about that.  Lots of people feel that way.”  “What, that they’re inferior?” Charlie asks, feeling somewhat encouraged.  “No — that you’re inferior.” 

In one of his final books, theologian J. I. Packer observes, “What is weakness?  The idea from first to last is of inadequacy.”  We are physically weak, intellectually weak, personally weak, and relationally weak.  Our bodies are broken, our minds are inadequate, our personalities like resolve, and our relationships suffer.  “Every day finds us affirming the inadequacy of others at point after point.” [Weakness is the Way]

And in case we aren’t convinced of our weakness, when the Bible speaks of God’s followers, one of the most persistent images it uses is that we are sheep — one of the most intellectually challenged and physically vulnerable animals in God’s creation.  

We are weak.  We need someone to guide us and protect us.  Unfortunately, as we saw last week (and will see in future weeks as well), many of the shepherds God provided for His people were not just inadequate for the task of leading people, but they were perverse and self-serving so that the sheep wandered and suffered.  But God has not left His people to suffer perpetually from false shepherds.  He has provided the Good Shepherd (the Messiah) and His own power to care for His people, which we see in Zech. 10:6-12 —

God’s power is manifested in the redemption of His people.

Spurgeon wrote, “If you ask where God’s glory is most seen, I will not point to creation, nor to providence, but to the raising of Jesus from the dead.”  A corollary to that is that whenever God redeems anyone, the magnificence of His power is on display.  When you see the salvation of a sinner, or the sanctification of a sinner, you are seeing the power of God.  That is true today — and it will also be true at the end of this age, when God saves His covenant people Israel and puts them in the Promised Land.  That’s the message of the end of Zechariah 10 and this morning we observe three manifestations of God’s power in the redemption of Israel:

1. God’s Power Will Restore the Nation (vv. 6-7)
2. God’s Power Will Redeem His People (vv. 8-9)
3. God’s Power Will Revive His People (vv. 10-12)

Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah 10:6-12.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.