God is at work! He is writing a wonderful story throughout the pages of human history – a story full of love and mission, high adventure and great daring. It is a story that involves you.
“You can learn something about a story by the characters the author writes into it,” writes John Eldridge in a little book I have read over the summer. “Knights and a dragon are going to give you a certain kind of tale – a tale that chipmunks and acorns cannot provide” (Epic, p.32).
And what about a story that involves you? Will it be a “chipmunk and acorn” sort of story? Or something more?
Believe it or not, this was the question that faced the people of Israel near the end of the sixth century before Christ. They were a “besieged” sort of people. Bullied by Babylonians for much of the century, they were few and felt underpowered. They had the calling of God behind them, technically speaking. But in their heart of hearts, many of the people trembled. What sort of story could be made of people such as these?
Enter the prophet Zechariah. And just in the nick of time.
In the last few months, we have had a look at Zechariah’s powerful ministry near the end of the sixth century. Zechariah hoped to wake up the people of God – to take their place and responsibility in the story of God’s mission in the world. They were few, it is true. They were poor, we must admit. And they were persecuted, too. But they were not too few or too poor to play a part in the story of God. The story of God, it seems, is full of the few and the poor.
The book of Zechariah revolves around eight powerful visions. The visions themselves are filled with spectacular and mysterious imagery. But their purpose is plain enough: Zechariah hopes to nourish a missionary identity among the people of Israel. The people were more than “poor and few.” They were chosen, too – and chosen for participation in the highest calling on earth.
Vision eight concludes the series with a return to the horsemen introduced in vision one. In the first vision, we are told that the horsemen have set the earth at peace (Zechariah 1:11; see our commentary last month). In the last vision, we are told that the horsemen “have set [God’s] spirit at rest in the north country” specifically (Zechariah 6:8, italics added).
The “north country” represented everything that went wrong for the people of Israel. The Assyrians swept down from the north country to pillage and destroy in the eighth century B.C. The Babylonians appeared from the north country in the sixth century to burn Jerusalem and take captive its people. Everything that went wrong seemed to flow from the north.
So it is noteworthy that the horsemen have set God’s spirit at rest there, in particular – in the “North Country.” It is as if to say: there is nothing that will keep God from realizing his mission. And there is nothing that will dissuade him from using the people he has sovereignly chosen to use.
What “North Country” plagues you, from time to time? Maybe it is a physical difficulty, like the “thorn in the flesh” that plagued Paul (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7). Maybe it is a financial difficulty. Maybe it is some doubt or some fear that sweeps down “from the north” to discourage you. Can you trust God to set his Spirit at rest…just there?
God has indeed set his spirit at rest in the north country – in the north country in particular. No calamity is beyond his redeeming. No captivity, no misfortune writes us “out” of the story of God.
“Even if it seems impossible [to you], should it also seem impossible to me, says the Lord of hosts?” (Zechariah 8:6). No indeed. The “North Country” may seem scary and impossible. But God is God, after all. If God calls you – “North Country,” or no – he can make you able to respond.
It is God himself, you see, who Authors this wonderful story – this Gospel story about the King and his shed blood, this story about his winning grace and his eternal Kingdom. In this amazing story, there is room for the poor and the few – and maybe for chipmunks and acorns, too. This is a story that God is still weaving. Give him your heart – and he will write you into his story, too.