Zechariah 7:1

 Zechariah 7:1 says, And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; Once more, God's word came to Zechariah.  Even though people sometimes ridicule people who say that God speaks to them, as followers of Christ, He should speak to us quite often.  If may not be with an audible voice, but He will speak to us through the Holy Spirit's guidance in our life.   Verse two adds, When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,  Two men had been sent to the house of the LORD to pray to Him.  Matthew Henry said the two men were men of authority, because their men came with them.  It is always a good thing to come to God in prayer if we have questions about what He would have us do, even if we are people of some authority in the world.  Verse three continues, And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?  They came not only to pray but also to speak to the priests and prophets concerning the keeping of a particular religious ceremony.   They said they had continued to celebrate this day for many years.  Matthew Henry says that this day commemorated the burning of the temple, which was now being rebuilt.  Verse four declares, Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,  Zechariah did not give them his answer, but he gave them God's answer.  If someone comes to us with a question about what God would have them do, we must make sure that what we tell them comes from God's word.  Verse five adds, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?  Verse six continues, And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?   God then had Zechariah ask if the people did not observe these feasts  for their own benefit.  We should never attend a worship service simply so we can bring honor to ourselves.   Zechariah was instructed to speak to the people and the priests and to start with a question.  These men boasted that the people and they had kept these feasts for these seventy years, but God asked if they had done so to honor Him or if they had just gone through the motions.  We may faithfully keep every Christian holiday that there is and faithfully be at every church service,  but if we do not do so to honor God, then we have no reason totake pride in our faithfulness.  Verse seven states,, Should you not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?  Zechariah said God did not want them to continue to keep the feasts as they had, but wanted them to keep them with true repentance and not just for show, as they had failed to do even before their dispersion.   God does not want empty religious ceremonies,  but He wants true worship based on a personal relationship with Him.