Losing perspective

I love those photographs of people with famous landmarks behind them, where instead of looking into the camera with a cheesy grin they hold out their forefinger and thumb so that it looks like they are holding the Eiffel Tower. Something so great is made to look so small.

But it reminds me that we can so lose perspective on the greatness of God and his Kingdom that everything else seems big and God and his kingdom appear small. Do you know what I mean? Does that describe you? Has that happened to you?

The book of Zechariah, it seems to me, is the perfect remedy for Christians who have lost perspective on God and his kingdom in a world where they can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the opposition and underwhelmed by the state of the Church as they look around.

This condition is encapsulated by the vivid wording in 4:10 about not despising the day of small things. The book of Zechariah is thick with descriptions of the expansive reign of the kingdom, the global reach of the mercies of God (2:11; 8:20-23), and the coming rule of the LORD as king over all the earth (14:9).

You can afford to rejoice in these things now. Consider how the people of God, the Church, the temple where he dwells, is multi-national. Consider the spread of the gospel throughout the world, far, far beyond anything known in the day of small things back in 520 BC.

You can also afford to rejoice in advance of the total fulfilment of Zechariah 14:9. Every word of God proves true. The Word of God is directing the course of history, as some have found to their bitter cost when they disregarded it (1:1-6).

Quite simply the book of Zechariah is intended to recalibrate our vision of the work of God.