Short daily devotional episode (part of a 66-day "Summer of Scripture" series) that centers on Zechariah 4:6: "Not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven's armies." Speakers (Dave Willis and co-host) explain that God — not human strength — is the builder of marriage and life; they encourage surrender, dependence on God, and an eternal perspective. The episode draws parallels to Pauline theology (boasting in weakness because Christ's power rests in weakness), and includes real-life illustrations (a couple facing breast cancer; struggles with anxiety/depression) to show how God's sustaining strength aids people in their weakest moments.
Chapters
Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we're releasing a short daily devotional for your marriage. Over these 66 days, we'll be sharing one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talking about how it applies to your life and marriage. Listen to all 66 episodes of these, and you'll have a better understanding of God's word and his perfect plan for your marriage. Let's dive in to today's scripture.
38. The book of Zechariah.
That sounds good.
That's a good name. Zechariah. 4. 6. It is not by force nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. I love it, guys. It's just a simple reminder that, you know, even though we like to live in this delusion that our strength, our ability, our will, our. Is building everything, that ultimately it's God who's in control. And I don't know about you, but there's real peace in that. You know, once we humbly just accept that God is God and we are not, it's so liberating. It's so freeing. And it also takes off so much pressure where we feel like we're the ones that have to be the only ones that are building this marriage or building this life or building this or that. It's like, no. If we'll submit it into God's hands and really do it his way, then God does the building. And, yeah, there's still work on our part, of course, but it's ultimately not accomplished through our strength, but his right.
I love how it talks about him being the Lord of Heaven's armies. And I think we think about Jesus coming to earth. And as Christians, I mean, we do obviously focus on Jesus, and I love that. But I think we also forget there's heaven and there's the Lord's armies. Like, there's angels up there. Like, there's all of this. There's a whole other realm, you know, and God's over that, too. Like, it's just like, how big is He? It's hard for our minds to even really understand, you know, But I think it's just so comforting in that he sees the greater picture, that he cares about us in our individual lives and our children, our spouse. Like, he cares about all of it and he sees all of it, but yet we don't have to just tightly grip it. We've talked a little bit about this before, but I think living in full surrender to God and trusting that he is a good God is huge. You know, and I think that when we really believe that to our very core, we end up treating our spouse and our family and the people we come in contact with better. And we see them too as the children of God that they are. And I think it's just really important that we keep that eternal perspective because it's very easy to just get very self focused and also very bogged down by just the little things that we have kind of to deal with on.
The day to day.
But I think every morning just thanking God for the day that we have before us and that he is a good God and that we need to lean on his strength and that he's over it all, that really sets us up with that eternal perspective.
It really does. You know, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul in his writings, you know, talks about this same theme by saying, in my weakness I'm strong and I'm gonna. The only thing I'm gonna boast about is my weakness, because in it the power of Christ rests in me. And here's Paul, a guy that we consider just a giant of the faith. I mean, a brilliant intellectual, a man of incredible courage, a man of incredible influence. And yet he's saying like, the more I'm walking with the Lord, the more I realize that it's only in my weakness, in my total dependence on him, that God is doing anything at all through me. That's the only thing I want to boast about. I don't want to boast about my academic degrees or my pedigree or my resume or any of those things. I want to boast about how desperately I need a savior and how Jesus is that Savior and He died for me on the cross. And because of the hope that I have in him, he has given me new life, his spirit within me, and I'm going to celebrate that. And Paul was able to celebrate that from a prison cell, from all kinds of hard situations. And it's a reminder that whatever hard situation you're facing, you and your spouse are facing right now, you can have peace in it. Because it's just not your strength alone that's going to get you out of it. But the God of heaven's armies is with you and his strength will carry you through.
You know, we just actually interviewed a couple that went through a long battle with breast cancer. The wife did. And you know, one thing that really struck me, and I won't give too much away because you guys got to tune in early fall to hear their interview, but they were just an incredible couple and are an incredible couple. One of the things that, at the end that really struck me about what they shared was she said this specifically. She said, you will have moments like especially in chemotherapy and just the weakness that you feel, like, I can't go another day. I don't have enough strength to even stand right now. And she said, but God will be your strength and he will get you through it. Do you remember her saying that? And I love hearing people who've been like, they've been at just such a point of weakness, physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and, and right there at their very, what they would probably call their rock bottom, God is holding them, you know, And I think it's so important that we remember that. And I know I experienced that on my lowest days dealing with anxiety and depression where I'm like, I don't know if I can keep on doing this. Like, just keep on doing life as a depressed and anxious person. Like, I'm just desperate for some relief. And every time I would cry out to the Lord, it was like he would give me just enough strength to face that day. And I think that we just, we all, anytime we reach out to him, he is there. He's our ever present help in time of need.
Man, that is so good. Our ever present help in time in need. Another great promise from scripture. And we all need that, guys. We all need that reminder. You know, God's not impressed with how strong we are. I think we try to impress people with how strong we are. We try to post things online that makes it in social media that make us look strong. And we don't want to point out our weaknesses. But, but really we're never stronger than when we recognize our weakness. And we recognize that it's God's strength that's sustaining us and that he's always with us. And again, there's just such a comfort in that. So I hope that's an encouragement to you and your spouse today. I hope it helps you have a new perspective as you face your struggles today. And yeah, we'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow. For day 39, we'll be in the book of Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament. The Bible's broken up, really. An Old Testament and New Testament Jesus is the, is the division. Once Jesus is on the scene, it's the start of the New Testament. There's a 400 year gap between the end of the Old Testament, the start of the new and tomorrow. We're going to wrap up the Old Testament with the Book of Malachi. So join us then.
