The Hebrew words חַיִל chayil and כֹּחַ kôach mean force, strength, army or wealth. Victory in the situation Zechariah was writing about was not going to come about by wealth, influence or military force, but only by God's Spirit, רוּחַ . That word, ruach, literally means breath... which sounds so unsubstantial compared to power or military might... but God describes Himself as the Lord of Heaven's armies - Yahweh Tsâbâ.
Strangely, if you look it up in a Hebrew dictionary, that word tsâbâ, translated hundreds of times in the Bible as hosts, war, soldiers or army, is also used three times to mean "appointed time." God is the Lord of Hosts, but He is also the Lord of the appointed time.
I had to tell Him this morning that I am struggling with the timing of things at the moment: I'm struggling with the fact that I was supposed to be out of my previous home at the end of February... and now it's the middle of April and I still don't have a new place to live. It doesn't feel like "perfect timing" from my human perspective.
In this search for a new home, I sometimes worry that I'm "not doing enough" and wonder if there is something else I need to do. But if it's anything like Zerubbabel's situation in this chapter, the breakthrough won't happen through force or strength or wealth... but only by the Spirit of the "Lord of the appointed time.
The next verse, Zechariah 4:7 speaks of a mountain, an unsurmountable obstacle, being removed. Through the prophet Zechariah, God was telling Zerubbabel that not even a mighty mountain could stand in his way, because God was going to flatten that mountain into a level plain before him.
You can listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVyhXDDwYc When we ministered in churches, two of our young people would sing the song, while two others in the team would express it through sign language and creative movements.
In fact, the words that were coming to me this week were specifically from the second verse of the song: "I can see your heart is tired and your courage has worn thin. You wonder how long you will have to hang on... but when my love comes in you'll be strong again."
"Courage" is another way that those Hebrew words mentioned above (chayil and kôach) are translated in the Bible... and it's a relief to know that the breakthrough doesn't depend on that, because this morning I was telling the Lord that I feel my courage really has "worn thin" this year.
So I can take courage in the fact that, as it did for Zechariah and Zerubbabel, victory for me will not usually come by strength, courage or force, but more likely from the sovereign breath of the Spirit of God.
Read on below to discover another principle found that same chapter of Zechariah.
