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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful
thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build
My house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.
“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.
What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because
of My house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own
house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the
earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the
grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on
people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Haggai 1:7-11
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
God had restored His people back to their homeland, just
as He promised He would. They had served their sin penalty of seventy years in
exile, a captivity that spanned the final decades of the Babylonian empire, and
after the Persians had defeated Babylon and took over, God made a way for a
remnant of His people to return home, not only to rebuild their homes but His
as well.
Well, as we saw in the opening verses of Haggai 1, the
Israelites only addressed half of what God had expected them to do and it was
them handling their own needs before the needs of the Lord. Obviously, this
wasn’t going to set well with a God who always gave His people His first best
at all times. Look at today’s passage again here:
This is what the Lord
Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and
bring down timber and build My house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be
honored,” says the Lord.
“You expected
much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away.
Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of My house, which remains a ruin,
while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the
heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought
on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and
everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the
labor of your hands.” Haggai 1:7-11
As we can see, God had a message for His people who had
become comfortable, falling into the sin of complacency. The message was clear:
“Time to get busy!”
Note that the Lord didn’t suggest that His people
possibly consider getting to work on His temple. No, He commanded them to “Go
up into the mountains” and “bring down timber” which they were to use to build
His house, a house where God could once again “take pleasure in” and “be
honored”.
To motivate the Israelites, God sent some subtle messages
that the people were once again getting on His bad side. Those messages
included:
1. Reducing the blessings the Israelites received below
their expectations.
“You expected
much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away.
2. Withholding vital water for the Israelite crops.
“Because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and
the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on
the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces,
on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
The bottom line was that if the Israelites were not going
to produce for God then He wouldn’t produce for them. His people had been so
busy getting their own houses in order that the temple was not given
consideration. It remained sitting in ruins and so the Lord started to ruin the
harvest for the Israelites. The punishment definitely fit the crime.
Would the people respond to God’s call to get busy?
Tune into tomorrow’s devotion for the answer.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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