Substitutes

As we saw yesterday, submission to God’s will can be undermined

as we rely on our own strength. It also is possible to rely on other sub-

stitutes for God. When some people feel depressed, they go shopping

for something to make them happy. When some feel inadequate, they

pursue fame. When others have difficulties with their spouse, they look

for someone else to give them intimacy and excitement.

Many of the things we use can relieve the pressure, but they do not

necessarily solve the problem or teach us how to handle the situation

better the next time. Only supernatural help from God can do that. The

problem is that many times we depend on substitutes for God rather

than on God Himself.

Here are three substitutes that we may use instead of God:

1. We use human logic or past experience when we need fresh divine

revelation.

2. We block problems from our minds when we need divine solutions.

3. We escape reality and avoid God when we need communion with

Him for divine power.

Zechariah helps us to focus on what really matters when we are

tempted to use substitutes. After many years away, the exiles had

finally returned from Babylon and immediately began to rebuild the

temple. But there was an incredible amount of opposition to this (some

background can be found in Ezra 4–6). So, Zechariah came with this

message of encouragement to Zerubbabel, who was leading the work.

Read this message in Zechariah 4. What does God mean in Zechariah

4:6? How could the completion of a building project be affected

by the Holy Spirit? What does this teach us about the relationship

between the Holy Spirit and the practical things that we do?

God did not prevent the opposition to the temple or spare Zerubbabel

from the stress of dealing with it. And God will not always protect us

from opposition. But when opposition comes, God may use it as a cru-

cible to teach us to depend on Him.

When stress comes, what’s your first reaction? Food? Television?

Prayer? Submission to God? What does your answer tell you

about yourself and the things you need to learn or to change?