November 17

Zechariah 1
It was an early April snow, very unusual for Oklahoma. The storm dumped 6-8 inches on us overnight. For northern states that have the equipment to remove snow, it would have been nothing. But for us, it is safer to just call off school for the day and let it melt. It would all be gone in a day anyway. With school out, our neighborhood decided to have a snowball fight with the guys from a near by neighborhood. I was one of the youngest in the group. I think that I was in the 7th grade. I was able to sneak up on a guy two years older than I, and I nailed him. He wasn’t about to take that from a squirt like me. So he began his revenge. I was getting hammered terribly, but then my brother, a senior in High School, saw my plight. He came to the rescue. Boy did he come to the rescue! I almost felt sorry for the guy who was pummeling me. It kind of ended the snowball fight. Now, my brother and I once in a while would have a disagreement (usually I was the aggressor), but I had never seen anger like that out of him! He was zealous for me.
The Lord says, “I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal. I am exceeding angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helped—but with evil intent. Therefore thus says the Lord: I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it.” The Lord was indeed a little angry with His people, Judah. He used other nations to kick them out of the land. But as His tool of disciplining His children, they had evil intent. The result? The Lord was very angry. My brother might get angry with me, but you’d better not mess with me. The Lord gets angry with the disobedience of His children, but you had better not mess with His children! That is part of His glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john