Zechariah 7:4-5 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?
The question here is one of motivation, not action. The people have followed religious law and fasted when appropriate, but God asks WHY they fasted: to adhere to the law, so they could be seen as upstanding religious persons by law, or to draw closer to God?
Zechariah 7:6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?
The point, it seems to me, is that faith is more than following religious law and checking off obedience boxes. If there is no heart for God, no justice, mercy, and compassion, if there is only adherence to ritual, the acts are empty and meaningless.
Zechariah 7:9-10 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
Lord, If I am a “good Christian” in the eyes of the world but fall short of the mark in Your eyes, I have failed. Help me to live out the heart of my faith. Help me to put my beliefs into action daily. Help me to live a life that allows You to say to me at the end, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:23). Amen.
Zechariah 7:11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.
Have a blessed day.