Harsh words.  As it stands there, the title of this piece is a very unsympathetic and negative statement, usually uttered with an impatient attitude and without regard for the heartbreak of the person on the receiving end.  From the mouth of a fellow human, it can strike a wound for the recipient, atop the pain that already exists.

From the mouth of God, it comes clearly and almost sharply to the people under the prophetic leadership of Zechariah.  They are a downtrodden and despondent people, until recently exiles of the Babylonian empire.  Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, they returned to the ruins of Jerusalem.  Many of their elders remember the cruelty of the almost year-long siege of Nebuchadnezzar when they were carried off in defeat and starvation as slaves to Susa, the advanced capital of a world empire.

Together with Haggai, Zechariah is called to encourage the people and revive the anticipation of new greatness under a promised leader.  The Messiah, the coming King, would restore them to a new place of dominion, and therefore the work on the Temple had to continue.

During this time of return, as the wounds of memories are reopened, new traditions are established by the freed.  They remember!  They remember every atrocity of the enemy, the brokenness over the children and loved ones who are dead, the sons who fought and died.  For every painful thought, a day of fasting is declared so that the torment of a crushed people is never forgotten.

At the return of the exiles, God speaks clearly to them and gives the command that the fasting days shall be turned into feasting days.  The promise is clear:

Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘The fast of the fourth month,
The fast of the fifth,
The fast of the seventh,
And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace.’  (Zechariah 8:18-19)

Their tears and torn hearts are comforted in the words of the prophet.  They dwell among the overgrown heaps of rubble and neglected pillars of former glory, the Temple of Solomon.  Just the sight of the devastation stirs the emotions of the people to such an extent that loss is ennobled in the rituals of mourning.

Is it not right then to honour pain and loss with great dignity and deep reflection?  We cannot diminish our own life’s path so much that we do not remember and commemorate everything – the good and the bad.  It is also true that emotional pain can twist a sharp dagger in our hearts, causing the “wound” to bleed and healing to be sought again and again.  We declare an emotional fasting day and “bathe” once more in the soul wounds of our past.

We are encouraged in modern psychology to talk about it.  That is right of course.  We find a “voice” to articulate our pain and recount the torments of others’ sins in our lives.  That is also right.

However, it is not right to continue in this manner so that the injury defines us as humans and determines our actions towards others and God.  Part of owning emotional wounds is to repeatedly express them, even if you feel you have already received healing.  Somewhere, you have to deal with it and act in the victory of complete healing.

Let your fasting day become a feasting day.  That’s what God wants for you. Your festive celebration of victory will draw others to you because it will be the sign of your full healing.

How then is it possible to overcome the tremendous sorrow of the past?

The characteristic of a feast day of ancient Israel was the sound of trumpets.  The festivals were announced and concluded with trumpets, the ram’s horn of the old people.  The sound of the trumpet unleashed great excitement.

The trumpet is symbolic of God’s voice.  God’s voice makes all the difference.  The words of God in the mouth of Zechariah announced the feast.  Truth and peace were the hallmark of the feast.

Blessed are the people who know the sound; O Lord, they walk in the light of your face. In your name they rejoice all day long, and through your righteousness they are exalted. (Psalm 89:16,17)

This is the true healing of old wounds.  Truth and peace.  Truth is the promises of God that He will never leave us, and peace is the product of God’s words within you.  Peace brings healing.  It is impossible to fake deep peace.  It is also not possible that evil brings peace.  Peace comes only from the Lord. Only He, the Prince of Peace, can give peace.  It is special and of immeasurable value.

The truth of the Cross and all of God’s promises that are Yes and Amen in Jesus is the key to a life “in the face, the countenance” of God Himself, His wonderful Presence where there are solutions for everything – every possible attack on your mental health.

Again I received a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The days of mourning set for the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be turned into days of feasting for Judah—celebration and holiday. Embrace truth! Love peace!” (Zechariah 8:18 – The Message)

Can we afford to cling to the beacons of the work of the devil in our past?  Do we persist in confessing the wound so that we are attacked again with pain and rejection?

Cease the days of fasting and declare the days of feasting!  Celebrate the feast of your redemption.  Write your testimony… in jubilation before the face of the Lord.