1 Ask the Lord for rain in the spring,
for he makes the storm clouds.
And he will send showers of rain
so every field becomes a lush pasture.
2 Household gods give worthless advice,
fortune-tellers predict only lies,
and interpreters of dreams pronounce
falsehoods that give no comfort.
So my people are wandering like lost sheep;
they are attacked because they have no shepherd.
Zechariah 10:1-2 (NLT)
Ask God for blessing
Clarke’s commentary nicely summarizes these two verses: “The promise of prosperity and plenty in the close of the preceding chapter leads the prophet to suggest, next, the means of obtaining them; supplication to Jehovah, and not to idols, whose worship had already proved a fertile source of calamities, 1-3.”
Oftentimes we don’t receive the blessing God wants to give us? Why?
- We don’t ask. I picture God at times on His throne, prepared to give us some blessing, waiting for us to ask. We doubt His ability or interest in providing us the blessing so we don’t even ask. Or, if we ask, we don’t ask in faith that He can and will provide it. Our loss. Ask!
- Unconfessed sin. Another reason for not receiving God’s blessings is unconfessed sin; a broken relationship with the Father. We forget that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (ESV) Confess!
- Wrong motives. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” James 4:3 Correct!
Asking the wrong one
It seems the Jews at this time had been asking idols and fortune tellers and the like. What an insult to God. How foolish. But lest we be too quick to judge, consider where we look for blessings. Our job, our friends, family, hobbies, pornography, alchohol are NOT sources of blessings but curses – when they are sought in place of the Lord.
