Zechariah 10:12

Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here God intimates to them that he will for these things be enquired of by them, and that he expects they should acknowledge him in all their ways and in all his ways towards them--and not idols that were rivals with him for their respects.

I . . . strengthen them in . . . I, the Father, will strengthen them in the name, that is, the manifested power, of the Lord, Messiah, the Son of God. walk . . . in his name--that is, live everywhere and continually under His protection, and according to His will (Ge 5:22;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

THIS text is pitched in the royal key. It has nothing of the caution and doubting of man about it. Where the word of a king is, there is power, and this is the word of a King, indeed! It is the Word of Jehovah, King of kings and Lord of lords, and you may know it by His sovereign style—"I will," and, "they shall." Look at it. You sometimes say, "I will," but you mistake your power and your talk ferments into boasting. Never make your mouth longer than your arm, for that is monstrous! You have said, "I will," but you cannot achieve your purpose, for you forgot to say, "If the Lord wills"—and that forgotten factor masters you. And when you say, "They shall"—ah, then you are out of your reckoning—for who are they that you can command? You cannot say it without question concerning your own children, nor your own wife, nor your own friend. The wills of men and women are wayward and fickle—and if you calculate upon them, you may soon find yourself at fault. Hesitate before you say, "They shall," in reference to any of our liberty-loving race! Sometimes the word is no sooner spoken than you discover that you have provoked a, "shall not!" Men are not to be ruled and governed just after that fashion. They are not like your boy's chessmen, which he can move at his pleasure and take in and out of the box whenever he likes. Will and shall are not for us feeble beings. But the Lord has a right to the imperial style and it is in order for Him to say, "I will," and, "they shall," since He has the power to make good His words. This majestic speech is no novelty with Him. You will find it all through His Covenant utterances. He speaks in the tone of Omnipotence! He speaks like One who knows His own mind and understands how to rule the minds of others.

ACCORDING to our own natural conceit, we are very strong—it is as hard for us to part with our belief in our own strength as with our trust in our own righteousness! It is a very painful cut which severs us from confidence in ourselves. But when the Spirit of God performs that most necessary operation, then we discover that our supposed strength is utter weakness and that our righteousness are but filthy rags!

ACCORDING to our own natural conceit, we are very strong—it is as hard for us to part with our belief in our own strength as with our trust in our own righteousness! It is a very painful cut which severs us from confidence in ourselves. But when the Spirit of God performs that most necessary operation, then we discover that our supposed strength is utter weakness and that our righteousness are but filthy rags! If our eyes have been opened to see ourselves as we are in God's sight, we know that we are weak as water and that from us, unassisted by Divine Grace, there can never come any good thing. Our past experience might have been sufficient to teach us this lesson. The feeble way in which we have performed any duty that devolved upon us, the sad manner in which we have met any temptation that assailed us, the impatient and murmuring spirit in which we have endured any affliction that has come upon us—all these must have shown us that even after we are renewed by Divine Grace, though "the spirit indeed is willing," yet, "the flesh is weak." And though to will is present with us, yet how to perform that which is good we find not. We are not now like a stone which lies on the ground and cares not to stir, but we are like a bird with a broken wing which longs to soar into the clearer air above the clouds, but which is quite unable to reach that higher atmosphere. We know something of our weakness, but we probably do not yet know how weak we are and, I suppose, it will be one of our life lessons to learn by experience how great our weakness is. Perhaps some of you have been discouraged by the consciousness of your weakness and, in looking forward to the future, you have been greatly distressed. You are anticipating some important duty for which you feel quite unfit, or it may be that the shadow of some impending trial is just beginning to fall upon you.

THIS text is pitched in the royal key. It has nothing of the caution and doubting of man about it. Where the word of a king is, there is power, and this is the word of a King, indeed! It is the Word of Jehovah, King of kings and Lord of lords, and you may know it by His sovereign style—"I will," and, "they shall." Look at it. You sometimes say, "I will," but you mistake your power and your talk ferments into boasting. Never make your mouth longer than your arm, for that is monstrous!

I will strengthen them in the Lord - As our Lord said to Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and Paul said in turn, “When I am weak, then am I strong. And in His Name shall they walk up and down,” have their whole conversation (Dionysius), “in Him according to His will, and diligent in all things to speak and act in ills grace and divine hope.” Jerome: “Christians walk in the Name of Christ, and there is written on the new white stone given to them a “new name” Rev 2:17, and under the dignity of a name so great, they walk with God, as “Enoch walked and pleased God and was translated” Gen 5:24. Saith the Lord - Dionysius: “Again the Lord God speaks of the Lord God, as of Another, hinting the plurality of Persons in the Godhead.”