There are now children here

Quoted Verse: Zech. 8:4-5 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there."

In 1991, Alex Kotlowitz wrote a book entitled, There are no Children Here. It is a frank and brutal tale of kids growing up in the projects on Chicago's west side. It's a picture that the prophet Zechariah would have understood. In describing the holy city of Jerusalem during the time of captivity and exile, he too wrote to a people who had all but abandoned all hope. Their city looked more desolate than one of America's ghettos after looting and rioting. Buildings lay in ruins, the walls of the city were crumbling, and the brightest and the best had been taken into captivity. But the physical geography only began to hint at the desolation in the souls of God's children. One of the amazing things about scripture is that it speaks to us in our weakness and tells the truth about suffering and brokenness. It's not just a book about heroes and good guys and happily ever after fairy tales. It's about reality and the truth that the world as it is is often times not the way it's supposed to be. In fact, the bulk of its message is addressed to that very fact. It's the story of God at work in Jesus Christ to redeem and make the world once again like what he intended before sin entered the world.

The Bible speaks into our pain with a word of hope. In one of the most beautiful pictures in all of scripture, Zechariah paints a city transformed: No more bombed out landscapes with people cringing in fear. Instead, in grace he is given to see senior citizens sitting safely on park benches watching children guilelessly playing in the streets. This is the city where there are now children here...the children of God who dance and play in the streets because his love is at work in our lives in the city made new, the city of hope, the city of Jerusalem restored because God is pleased to dwell there with his people.

Prayer Lord, sometimes our lives feel like the place where there are no children here. Give us the hope and the joy that comes from knowing we are your children, and give us the vision to seek the new city, the New Jerusalem. In Jesus name, Amen