“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus declares the Lord of hosts. Return to me,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
– Zechariah 1:3
It’s a pretty simple verse. God’s speaking to his people, and it’s interesting. He uses this title that we’re actually just praying according to in Haggai. Recently, the Lord of hosts three times, thus declares the Lord of hosts, thus says the Lord of hosts, thus says the Lord of hosts, the commander of heavenly armies, the sovereign ruler over all the world. Spiritual, physical, over it all. God declaring to his people, “Return to me and I will return to you on a picture.” That if God’s people would just return to Him, repent of sin, that God would turn to them, pour out his abundant blessing on them. God is offering them everything they could want or need if they will only turn Him.
Zechariah 1:3 Reminds Us of Our Need to Constantly Turn to the Lord
And we know the picture that we see all throughout the Bible of God’s people’s burning this invitation. And doesn’t it make you just want to say, “God, help us to do this today.” Isn’t this our greatest need in our lives and our families and our churches? Certainly in our culture and the country I live in, and whatever country you might be in among any nation, this is our greatest need to turn to God. So what’s keeping us from doing this?
Turning, returning to Him for all who know Him, all of our heart, all of our soul, repenting of sin and seeking Him early and late and long, and experiencing His blessing, enjoying Him to the full, His presence and his promises. God, help us. Help me. I confess, God, part of me doesn’t even know what I’m praying for specifically here, what this returning needs to look like.
Zechariah 1:3 Teaches Us that God will Turn to Us when We Turn to Him
I just know it needs to happen in my life in a fresh way, and my family, and my church, in our churches, in our culture, in our countries. We need to return to you. God, help us to see this and help us to do this, to repent of sin. God, we need a fresh opening of our eyes to the seriousness of sin in our lives. Sin that we’ve become desensitized to, sin that we’ve become complacent with.
God, I pray for fresh repentance in my own life as I’m reading this. In the life of every single person listening to this, God, we need revival like this. We want you to return to us. Lord, we want to see the fullness of your blessing and your grace and your abundance. We want to experience all that you’ve designed us for life with you, enjoying the fullness of your spirit, the fruit of your spirit in our lives.
God, we praise Zechariah 1 for over us. God, and pray this for people, groups who’ve who can’t return to you because they’ve never turned to you. At least most of them have little to no access to the gospel.
Praying for the Karakalpak People
We pray for the Karakalpak people of Uzbekistan today. And God, I praise you for people I know working among the Karakalpak people who are turning Karakalpak people to you.
We pray for your blessing on them and we pray that you would help them to walk in holiness, and you would pour out the power of your presence upon them as you work. And we pray the disciples we made, and churches would be multiplied among the Karakalpak people that they would turn to you, the Lord of hosts. And God, even as we pray for that, we trust that certainly part of the reason why 756,000 Karakalpaks are unreached by the gospel right now in addition to billions of others, is because we have not turned to you and your purposes in the world.
So God, help us to return to you. Help us to return to love for you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, obedience to your great commandment and obedience to your great commission, to make disciples of all the nations. God, we praise Zechariah 1:3 over our lives and families and churches and communities, cultures and countries today, and specifically over the Karakalpak people I’ve Uzbekistan, in Jesus name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
