Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit says the Lord of Host.”

“Preacher, you’re trying too hard.”  From “The Cross and the Switchblade” by David Wilkerson.

I remember as a teenager, I read the book “The Cross and Switchblade” by David Wilkerson at least a dozen times.  Aside from the Bible this book has probably made the greatest influence on the direction my life would take.   The story is familiar to most Christians as to how David Wilkerson, a country preacher, was called to New York City to preach to the street gangs.  The most dramatic moment came when David Wilkerson stood on a stage before the members of rival street gangs and it appeared he had lost complete control of the audience as he desperately tried to preach on the love of God. In that moment when he felt like he had totally failed he recalled something one of the teenagers said to him earlier, “Preacher, you’re trying too hard.” David Wilkerson realized the guy was right, he was trying to make things happen rather than let the Spirit of God do it.   He stopped preaching and just bowed his head and said; “God, I did everything I could, I am going to stop trying and let you do it.”  I still remember the first time I read the words of what happened next.  David Wilkerson said that it started in the back of the auditorium and gradually moved forward.  The noise, the mockery all ceased and gradually the auditorium became quiet.  Then he started to hear the tough, hardened teenagers begin crying.  It wasn’t soft sentimental music, a tear jerking story that brought these tears; it was nothing less than the presence of God and the move of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout my life I have always been haunted by those words: “Preacher, you’re trying too hard.”  It is always very easy to try and accomplish God’s work through our own might and power. The word might in the Hebrew is chayil.  In its Semitic root it has the idea of a physical natural power as well as a power that is gained through knowledge of the physical world.  The context of this verse is in reference to the rebuilding of the temple of God.  It took man’s earthly skills in carpentry, engineering etc. to build the temple, but ultimately it was the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit of God that built the temple.

The word power is an interesting word in Hebrew. It is kachach.  Its Semitic origins it is that of a camel or an animal that has become exhausted and is beginning to pant. Probably the best way to express kachach is to say one is trying too hard. 

I have been trying very hard lately to make things happen and last night I was so exhausted that I could not even sleep. Kachach (trying too hard) jumped out of Zechariah 4:6 in my Hebrew Bible and said, “Hurry come quickly, we need your help!” Well, obviously I was getting nowhere trying to go to sleep, I was too hyped up from all my efforts so I followed Kachach through my Looking Glass hanging from my Daleth figuring I’d burn off some of this excess energy.   As  Kachach (trying too hard) and I ran through my Looking Glass I found myself some place out West  in the 1870’s.  I saw an old steam driven locomotive pulling some freight cars that was stopped in front of  a  huge boulder on the tracks.  I looked up to the top of a hill. It was there that  I saw where the large rock had come.  There were a group of bandits on the hill top and they had obviously pushed the rock down off the crest of the hill and let it roll onto the tracks into order to stop the train so they could rob it.

I saw Kachach (trying too hard) was already at the boulder. For the first time I noticed that the first letter of Kachach (trying too hard) was the Kap and he was dressed in a conductor’s uniform.  The next two letters were two Cheths both dressed in the gray blue engineers and brakeman’s outfit and I could see all three were pushing with great effort on the boulder to remove it from the tracks.   I ran down to help Kap Chet and Chet (Kachach trying too hard) to push the boulder as I figured the exercise could burn off  this energy that was keeping me awake.  I also noticed that the bandits were preparing to attack and we had to get that boulder off the tracks before they mounted their attacked.  I looked over at the large muscular Kap and knowing he, Kap,  represented energy and force I encouraged him to push harder, which he did, but the rock would not move.  Chet, the brakeman asked that we stop for a rest.  One representation of Chet that I recognized was that of a new beginning and the other Chet, the engineer, represented a new height, a new level.  They were speaking to each other and agreed that what we needed was a new beginning, and new level of thinking. Chet quoted Archimedes: “Give me a lever and a place to stand and I can move the world.”   So the two Cheths ran and grabbed a couple boards and placed it under the boulder to make a lever and with the use of Cheth’s natural knowledge we attempted to move the boulder.  Archimedes apparently did not describe the size or strength of that level because the board just snapped in half and that boulder did not move at all.  I looked up and saw the bandits were now closing in.

I looked over at Kap  Chet, Chet (Karach, trying too hard) and wondered why the energy and might of Kap and the earthly knowledge and wisdom of the Cheths could not move that boulder when suddenly I saw them in formation.  They clearly spelled out the word Kachach  which means trying too hard.  I cried out to them: “Stop, look at yourself, don’t you even see yourselves, you form the word Kachach, you are trying too hard?”  Kap, Chet and Chet looked at each other and Kap took off his hat, scratched his head and said: “You know, he’s right.”   They then stopped all their efforts and called out to the Master of the Universe and suddenly a bolt of lightning came out of the sky, struck the rock, breaking it into hundreds of little pieces sending all the pieces toward the approaching bandits and knocking them off their horses.  Kachach and I jumped onto the Locomotive and Brakeman Chet and Conductor Kap frantically shoveled coal into the firebox while Engineer Chet pushed the controls and the train took off leaving the bandits in the dust.

Kachach dropped me off at my Looking Glass thanking me for reminding them that it was not by the might of Kap or the knowledge of  Cheth that saved the day but it was the Spirit of the Lord of Host that delivered us. I made my way back through my Looking Glass and went back to bed.  This time just resting in God’s Spirit to make the things happen that needed to happen rather than rest in my own reasoning, energy and strength. I decided I did all I could, I would now just give it all over to the Spirit of the Lord of Host  and I would just rest, go to sleep and let God’s Spirit do what He wants.   I realized I had been  kachach(ing) – trying too hard.