ZECHARIAH 6:15

“‘Those who are far away will come and build the temple of the LORD.’ Then you will know that the LORD of armies has sent me to you. And it will take place if you completely obey the LORD your God.”

As a child, I did not always obey my parents. I misbehaved in school. I made some horrible decisions as a teen. I knew what my parents expected of me. They made that perfectly clear. However, my flesh got in the way. I simply chose to disobey. Some of those decisions were costly. Others I got away with (or so it appeared).

What does it mean to completely obey? Zechariah is warning the people that all the promises God has made to them will ONLY come to be if they obey Him fully. God doesn’t allow half-hearted commitments. It’s kind of like being “kind of” pregnant. Not so much. You are or you’re not.

APPLICATION

Obedience is that way. God expects us to obey all the time, not just when we feel like it. It’s interesting that, in the Hebrew, “completely” and “obey” come from the same root word for “hear attentively.” In English it would read, “if you hear hear the Lord your God.” Get the picture? You need to really listen, so you can obey.

What do you need to “hear hear” from the Lord today? I love what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 7:23. “‘But this is what I commanded them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may go well for you.”’”

God doesn’t measure out His love based on our level of obedience. Aren’t you glad? But He does desire our obedience. Let’s show the Lord today that we love Him by obeying His Word. Let’s show the world that we are consistent in our obedience to Him. He can use our obedience to draw others to Himself.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.