Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24 NKJV.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by Whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Romans 8:15-17 NKJV.

I loved this from Hearing God by Dallas Willard: “Union with God...I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. John 17:20-21. God uses our spirit’s knowledge of ourselves, heightened by His presence and direction, to search us out and reveal to us truth about ourselves and our world. And we are able to use God’s knowledge of Himself – made available to us through the Holy Spirit as well as Christ and the Scriptures – to understand in some measure His thoughts and intentions toward us and to help us see His workings in our world (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). In the communion of the believer with God, their two beings are unified and inhabit each other, just as Jesus prayed: “I ask…that they may all be one. As You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, may they also be in us” (John 17:20-21 NRSV). As this union grows, God’s laws increasingly form the foundation of our hearts; His love is our love, His faith our faith.”

And our chapter, Zechariah 4, continues with the vision God gave to Zechariah: Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. 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. “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’” 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. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?” Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?” He replied, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I said. So he said, “These are the two anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.” v. 1-14. I loved that, What are you mighty mountain?…Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit! Who dares despise the day of small things? And when I don’t understand what I am reading in Scripture, like These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth…I leave it with Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, because He knows. When I struggle to understand events happening that are too big for me, I give it all to Him and leave the understanding of it for His will to be done. We see now through a glass darkly but with His help, we see as He brings understanding to light. But all of this, every portion of it, reminds me that I need Creator God always. There is never a moment that we won’t need Him. Rejoice that He IS and that we can give everything to Him. And trust His will because we can’t know everything, but we can know this…Creator God is our Father, our Savior, our Comforter and Helper, and He will be with us always…not just in the hard things, but beyond and for all eternity. Just as we can’t predict what will happen any moment, or every moment thereafter, we can’t predict God’s will. What can we predict? God’s will will be done. What can we know? God is love and He will work for our good in Him always in His timing and His wisdom. His will for our good is our hope and our strength and our surety.