The I Am and Inner Punishment

Neville's Inner Vision

From Neville’s vantage, Zechariah’s line speaks not of distant history but of your living mind. 'The LORD of hosts' is the I AM within you, the unshakable awareness that witnesses every thought and feeling. When the text says, 'As I thought to punish you,' it points to the inner habits of judgment you entertain about yourself and others—those thoughts that seem to punish you with guilt, fear, or lack. The punishment is not a personal deity’s cruelty; it is the natural consequence of a consciousness that forgets its oneness with the I AM. 'And I repented not' shows that the eternal principle remains constant, unwavering in its intention to awaken you, never retracting from its call to shift your state. Therefore, the real work is internal: you revise the scene in your imagination, choosing a new state of being in which you are already whole, justified, and loved. When you hold that state—feel it as real—every outer circumstance will adjust to reflect your inner peace, and repentance becomes a joyful turning toward your true, awakened self.