Zechariah 11 Devotional: How We Value Jesus Reveals Who We Follow

 30 Silver Coins for God? 💰

7-Step QT

1. 🙏 Quiet Time

2. 📅 October 26, 2025

3. ✝️ Zechariah 11:1-17

4. 📖 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter (v. 13).

5. 📝 Thirty silver coins—the price of a slave—were paid for God in Zechariah’s time, revealing how little He was valued. Centuries later, Jesus was betrayed for the same amount. This shows ongoing rejection of the true Shepherd. We must examine our hearts and honor Christ as Lord before it’s too late.

6. 💬 What does this passage speak to you today?

7. 🙏 Share below, and let’s encourage one another in prayer!

7-Step QT Notes

1. 🙏 Quiet Time

Pause.
Take a deep breath.
Ask God to give you a heart that forgives and overcomes evil with good.

2. 📅 October 26, 2025

Today’s passage reminds us:
How we value Jesus reveals who we truly follow.

3. ✝️ Zechariah 11:1–17

God speaks through Zechariah to expose the failure of Israel’s leaders—the shepherds who abandoned their people and rejected God. In a symbolic act, Zechariah throws thirty pieces of silver into the temple, the price they placed on God. It’s the same amount Judas received to betray Jesus. The message is clear: when we reject the true Shepherd, we invite destruction. But even in betrayal, God’s plan of redemption moves forward.

4. 📖 Key Verse

“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.” (v. 13)

5. 📝 Reflection

Thirty silver coins. That’s how little they valued God. It’s easy to feel shocked—but what about us?

Do we treat Jesus as our Shepherd, or just a spiritual accessory? Do we follow His voice, or chase after comfort, control, or popularity?

This passage isn’t just about ancient leaders—it’s about us. When we ignore Jesus in our decisions, relationships, or priorities, we’re echoing the same rejection.

But here’s the hope: Jesus still offers to be our Shepherd. He laid down His life for us. He’s worth everything.

Let’s not give Him leftovers. Let’s give Him our full devotion.

6. 💬 What does this passage speak to you today?

• In what areas of my life am I undervaluing Jesus?
• What voices am I following instead of the true Shepherd?
• How can I honor Jesus as Lord in my choices today?

7. 🙏 Prayer

Jesus, You are worth more than silver or gold.
Forgive me for the times I’ve treated You lightly.
Help me follow You as my true Shepherd, and live each day in full devotion to You.
Amen.

Scriptures

📖 1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! 2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! 3 The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!” (Zech 11:1-17, ESV).

Audio Overview

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