Zechariah 12:1-5: a reflection

1A revelation of the LORD’s word concerning Israel: The LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says: 2“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem. 3It will happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it. 4In that day,” says the LORD, “I will strike every horse with terror and his rider with madness. I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of Armies their God.’

This revelation opens by naming who the LORD is, and the description holds together two things we might keep apart: The LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. The same God who stretches out the vast heavens and lays the foundations of the earth also forms the human spirit within each person. He is at once the great Creator of all things and the intimate former of the spirit within us. The cosmic and the intimate are held together in the one God.

Notice the two things said of God together: he stretches out the heavens, and he forms the spirit within man. He is not only vast, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, beyond all measure; he is also intimate, the former of the human spirit within each person, at work in our inmost being. The God great enough to stretch out the heavens is the same God who forms and knows the spirit within you. His greatness does not make him distant; the Creator of the cosmos is also the one who shapes the spirit within us.

That holding together of the cosmic and the intimate is worth resting in, for we can imagine God's greatness makes him remote from our inner life. We can think that a God great enough to create the heavens must be too vast to be concerned with our inner being, our spirit, our small selves; but the God who stretches out the heavens is the very God who forms the spirit within us. The vastness and the intimacy are both true of him. Do not imagine that God is too great to be intimately at work within you; the God who stretches out the heavens forms your spirit within you, and knows your inmost being. Rest in the God who is both vast and intimate, the Creator of the heavens who is also the former of your spirit; his greatness does not put him at a distance, for the same God who laid the foundations of the earth is at work in the depths of your own being, forming the spirit within you.

Lord, this revelation opens by naming who you are, and the description holds together two things I might keep apart: the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. The same God who stretches out the vast heavens and lays the foundations of the earth also forms the human spirit within each person. You are at once the great Creator of all things and the intimate former of the spirit within us. Show me the two things said of you together: you stretch out the heavens, and you form the spirit within man. You are not only vast, beyond all measure; you are also intimate, at work in my inmost being. The God great enough to stretch out the heavens is the same God who forms and knows the spirit within me. Your greatness does not make you distant. Let me rest in that holding together of the cosmic and the intimate, for I can imagine your greatness makes you remote from my inner life. I can think that a God great enough to create the heavens must be too vast to be concerned with my inner being, my spirit, my small self; but the God who stretches out the heavens is the very God who forms the spirit within me. The vastness and the intimacy are both true of you. Keep me from imagining that you are too great to be intimately at work within me; you form my spirit within me, and know my inmost being. Help me rest in the God who is both vast and intimate, Lord, whose greatness does not put him at a distance, but who is at work in the depths of my own being.