Times-promoter., 1909-02-18
THE STORY.

N ARK days follow those of sunshine
- Discouragements come crowding
upon the heels of successful effort
But darkness and Encouragement are
no indication that God is not still in
his heavens, or that his will is not be-
ing wrought out In the midst of men.
When the outlook is dark we need
the uplook.
1t was now something over a year
since Zechariah had begun his minis
try as prophet in Jerusalem, and that
year had been crowded full of the
earnest proclaiming of Gods word as
revealed to him from time to time. 1t
had been year in which there had
been a marked turning of the people
to God. The work of building the tenn
pie had been resumed with fresh vigor
and good progress had been made. And
then new difficulties had arisen. The
foes from without which had stopped
the work before and which had been
feared would interfere again had de-
manded to know by what right the
work had been resumed and they had
posted off to Babylon to attempt to Sc
cure a decree from Darius to have the
enterprise stopped
No wonder then that doubt and dis
couragement filed anew the heart of
the governor Zerubbabel. Another Sc
rious check in the work would prove
fatal, he felt sure.
, why" he exclaimed to Zechariah,
the prophet, who had come to see him
in response to his earnest summons
"Why, if the Samaritans again succeed
in blocking the enterprise, it will sim
ply be impossible to take it up again
And what troubles me is this: Our re-
sumption of the work is a direct vio-
lation of the decree issued by the for
mer king, Artaxerxes, and should the
present king, Darius, choose to so re-
gard it, he may descend upon us and
execute dire punishment upon the city
for it's boldness. What think you?"
Zechariah did not answer at once.
He was troubled by the situation, and
saw the dark possibilities. But he was
certain that Gods hand had been in
the resumption of the building opera
lions, and laying hold upon that
thought, he responded, earnestly:
But we can have made no mistake
in obeying the voice of God?"
No." responded Zerubbabel, slowly,
and yet how can we know what trou-
BILE it may plunge us into?"
"But God will be with us to keep us
seeing that we have set ourselves to
so his will, protested the prophet, in
an effort to be hopeful
True indeed, and so | hope it may
prove, but cannot help but be trou-
bled by the dark outlook. The fact
that even now the messengers Of our
foes are on their way to Babylon with
their charges against us, has caused
many of the people to cease their
work, and should Darius look with dis
favor upon us, and cause our enemies
to triumph over us, we should not only
fail to complete our temple but would
suffer oppression and prosecution at
their hands"
Again Zechariah endeavored to COM
fort the discouraged leader of the peo-
pie and to point him to confidence in
God, and then took his departure. But
he went home not to sleep, but to give
himself up to a night of vigil with
God, and while the governor struggled
with his hopes and fears upon fever
ish, sleepless bed, Zechariah, the
prophet, reached up in prayer to God,
knowing that if help were to come it
must come from him.
But how strong seemed the forces OF
evil. How mighty seemed, the inf1u-
ences at work to discourage the build
ing operations. AS the thought of these
things came to Zechariah he racked
his brains to think how such influences
might be counteracted, and the enc.
mics put to rout. Surely there must
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