God never forgets your dreams, and in this episode, we explore the story of Zerubbabel, a leader who faced significant challenges in fulfilling his calling. After years of exile, Zerubbabel returned to lead his people in rebuilding the temple, but he encountered obstacles that led to years of delay. Despite his struggles and the distractions that arose, God reminded him that completion of his purpose was not reliant on his strength but on God's spirit. This episode serves as a powerful reminder that even when we feel we have lost our way or forgotten our dreams, God remains faithful to His promises. Join me as we reflect on how we can trust in God's strength to help us accomplish the tasks He has set before us.
Takeaways:
This episode emphasizes that God never forgets our dreams, even when we do.
Zerubbabel's story illustrates that success comes not from our might but through God's strength.
We are reminded that unfinished dreams can still be fulfilled through faith and perseverance.
The episode encourages listeners to reflect on their own dreams and trust in God's timing.
It highlights the importance of waiting on the Lord for strength to fulfill our calling.
Zerubbabel's journey shows that returning to God's work can lead to incredible outcomes.
Welcome to the Hobo Soul Podcast of Road advised from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life. I'll talk to you every Tuesday and Thursday for about 10 minutes.
And if you'd like more in depth information on walking with Jesus, you can find that at my www.bible805.com website. For now, let's get started on our topic for today, which is
Episode number 58, God Never Forgets your dreams.
I'm going to share a few of the verses for today in just a minute, but hang in there because they might not make a whole lot of sense until I give you the backstory on them. Now it's really a good backstory with a very encouraging ending, so hang in there with me. Here are the verses.
These come from the prophet Zechariah, where it says so he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. Then the word of the Lord came to me. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands will also complete it.
Now here's the backstory of these verses. It was about 16 years since the children of Israel had come back to the land after their captivity. Now this is the story of a man named Zerubbabel.
You've probably never heard of him, but you really should have because he was a direct descendant of King David and he should have been king during the time that people were in exile. But they were in exile and of course he wasn't king. And yet he was recognized as the leader of the people. While they were in Babylon.
They were there exiles from their land as a judgment for their sins of idolatry and selfish living and the resulting lifestyles of selfishness and oppression of the poor and all these kind of things that totally negated their calling as God's representatives to the world.
Now previously, when the covenant with God was made after he rescued them from Egypt, God promised them blessings if they obeyed and punishment if they didn't. Exile from the land was the ultimate punishment and they suffered greatly because of it.
But God so incredibly gracious and he said that this punishment would only last 70 years.
And true to his promise, when the 70 years were over, God did an incredible thing and the ruler Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return to the land and rebuild the temple which was the heart and soul of their worship. When this happened, Zerubbabel as heir to the throne of David was The one who led them back.
It was an exciting time as they witnessed yet another miracle like the Exodus, when God brought them out of captivity and back into their land. This time, though, it wasn't Moses who was the leader, it was Zerubbabel. I imagine he must have been really excited to do this.
Maybe he felt a little bit of fear and trepidation. I mean, who wouldn't? He had to go to this completely unknown land and, you know, it was pretty scary.
But he was called to lead the people back and most importantly, to lead in the rebuilding of the temple. It was really good, though, because this time they had no armies to conquer.
It was a triumphant time, demonstrating the power and faithfulness of God. They came back with money and resources to build the temple, and they started into it just right away.
But there were surrounding enemies that didn't like what they were doing. They discouraged them. They fought their efforts. They tattled to the king back there in Persia.
They tried to join them in where God said they couldn't be a part of. It was a really scary, fearful time. But God took care of everything, removed all of the obstacles to rebuilding.
But what the physical enemies couldn't destroy, quiet selfishness did. The people turned to building their homes, not God's, and to making themselves happy, not to the service he wanted them to do.
And it doesn't seem like Zerubbabel did anything about it.
Maybe he told himself he'd get back to the work God wanted on building the temple as soon as he could, after he put together a decent home for his wife and kids, after he got the people better organized or the priests more prepared to do their duties. Or maybe a million other excuses that may have sounded good even to himself at times.
And yet I wonder how many times he'd walked past the partially built temple and reminded himself what he was supposed to do. Maybe promised himself that he'd get the people together, that they'd start back on it. But the years went by and it never happened. 16 Years.
It's a long time when our story picks up and Zerubbabel is now far from a young man. Regrets begin to replace strength. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, two prophets begin preaching in the midst of the corporate revival.
Zechariah, who's one of the prophets, has a message to Zerubbabel personally. And this is what he says. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of the temple. His hands will also complete it.
Imagine hearing that he'd bailed out. He was obviously not the leader he was supposed to be, he was a failure when it came to doing his part to rebuild the temple.
Zerubbabel may have forgotten what it felt like to serve God with excitement and purpose, but God didn't forget. He didn't replace Zerubbabel because he quit.
And God reminded him, as he reminds us, that we don't accomplish great things for him by might or by power, but by God's strength. It's never really about us all along, but about the faithfulness of our God. That's Zerubbabel's story.
He got to finish rebuilding the temple, the one Jesus would walk in one day. Zerubbabel died knowing he'd finally accomplished what he'd been called to do.
Now, if you want the whole story on this, all of the different things that happened, check out this week's lesson, which will be posted on Friday on Bible 805. It's entitled the Prophets Haggai and How God Never Forgets Dreams or Promises. But enough of Zerubbabel's story. Let's look at ourselves.
What are some of your dreams that you haven't accomplished for God? I know this applies to anyone at any age, but I want to talk a minute to my fellow baby boomers.
Many of us had significant experiences with our faith as part of the Jesus movement many years ago. Many were on fire for God wanted to do great things for God, and many did back then. But what about now? What unfinished dreams do you have?
God hasn't forgotten them. You may have laid some foundations that remain unfinished, but they're still there. The dreams and the calling haven't changed.
Maybe you don't feel strong enough, but you may be just now realizing that you never have been strong enough. It's always through the Lord's strength and his alone that you can accomplish what he wants you to do.
Remember the wonderful promise that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. It doesn't say that only to a certain age or situation does God renew strength. It is waiting on God that the renewal comes.
Wherever you are, whatever dreams you have left to fulfill, wait on the Lord and trust him to help you accomplish them. That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible.
Go to www.bible805.com. For now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hollow soul, no more a transient, wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.
