Unstuck

Zerubbabel was stuck.

Nearly twenty years before, God told him to rebuild the temple. After an initial burst of momentum, a wave of discouragement made him drop his shovel and sword.

But God never dropped his divine purpose. After a decade of dormancy, the Spirit stirred Zerubbabel back into the dream he thought had long died.

“Then 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 of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7)

There was a lesson in the waiting. God waited a decade to show Zerubbabel how to mount up with wings.

The insurmountable peak does not become a plain through our planning. Mere strategy only sends us trudging through the terrain. The Spirit alone turns impossible hills into broad pastures. 

What we could not do in twenty years in our strength is made possible—indeed, easy—with a single gust of holy wind.

God waits while you try out every trick in the book. But no tactic will take you above the thistles or topple the wall of despair. If you are stuck, God is sending a message: Won’t you try another way? “Not by might. Not by power. But by my Spirit, says the Lord.”

This is the precise order in which we have to learn. First, we are humbled with an awareness of our futility. And then, at last, when we are ready to surrender, God falls with surpassing power.

“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it.’” (Zechariah 4:8-9)

In all the years of waiting, God never reconsidered his assignment.

What Zerubbabel started, he would finish.

God will not pass your purpose off to another. He waits patiently. And when the time is right, he gives back the shovel you thought you had lost. Only this time, it feels lighter. It digs sharper. It holds a different shine. 

The years of waiting were not a waste. The prison and the pit had a purpose. The Lord was teaching you all along how to live by the Spirit.