Zechariah 4:1 “Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is wakened from his sleep.”
Observation: In just fourteen short chapters, Zechariah prophesied more about Messiah than anyone but Isaiah. Chapter 4 relates a remarkable series of visions. But as interesting as all that is, I was arrested by Zechariah’s saying that He was roused by an angel.
Application: Roused by an angel. Imagine!Reading that filled me with instant jealousy. Zechariah wasn’t sleeping; he was already awake and conversing with an angel. But something in him apparently needed to be even more alive, even more attentive. How many of my days have been lived only partly awake? How much of my life has been lived routinely, not truly roused to the fullness of what is going on in the spiritual realm around me?
Clearly Zechariah was chosen by God to be His prophet; there is no suggestion at the beginning of the book that he stood on a hilltop and pled with the Lord to give him a prophetic voice. But aren’t we all chosen?
Even before I came to Christ, God established a special, specific call on my life. After all, a great many gifts of the Spirit are expressed in natural abilities which He hardwired into me and which spring to life with kingdom impact once I am His. Even pagans can be teachers, givers of casseroles to sick friends, or performers of acts of charity. But until God has roused that life and brought him or her to Christ, the expression of those natural-ability gifts has little lasting impact. It takes Christ in me for my gifts to have eternal usefulness.
What if I were to be truly roused? Am I not, like Zechariah, surrounded by angels? Do I think they are dumb, unable to speak? Of course not! Angels are conversing with us all the time. Is there perhaps some added dimension of attentiveness to God’s Spirit that, once roused to its reality, would make my current condition seem like slumber? Doesn’t the heart long to experience something more? Luke 12:2 promises this: “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nothing hidden that will not be known.”
Prayer: Father, You see the longing of my heart to be roused to deeper dimensions of life in You. As best I know how, I surrender my mind, will, and emotions to Your tutelage. I need You to be my teacher. Rather than receiving the cacophony of voices around me that are not from You, let me be roused to new levels of wakefulness by Your Spirit.