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Have you ever come to a place in your spiritual walk with God where you felt like you were in a dry valley and the rain would never come? It certainly is not a pleasant place for an on fire Christian to be. I have found that when this happens to me, it is time for self-examination. I realized a long time ago when I don’t feel the Spirit of God moving in my life the way I need or want it is time for me to do some soul searching. God doesn’t move out of our lives, but sometimes we put Him on a shelf or we move Him out so we can do our own thing. When we are sincere with God and we search our heart for an answer, He will let us know what the problem is. It may be something we have done or sometimes it may be something we need to do. Maybe our prayer life or bible study has been neglected. Whatever the problem is we can be sure if we earnestly desire God’s best we can repent and He will be right where we want Him to be.
Haggai 1:5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
We find in these scriptures a good example of a people whom started out with a zeal for God and soon lost their priorities. Some 50,000 people returned to Judah after the Babylonian captivity. They settled in a tiny portion of their Jewish ancestry heritage centered on Jerusalem. There they found their once fertile land ruined. What had once been lush, green forestland was now stripped. The fertile cropland was now wilderness. In addition the little remnant struggling to clear its land was met with a series of natural disasters. Crops planted in hope were harvested in despair.
It was in this situation that God sent the prophet Haggai to preach to the people. There was a cause for their dilemma. Just as we ourselves, so often do today, they had gotten their priorities mixed up. The Lord through Haggai spoke to them and said: You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are never warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.
You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? The Lord declared “Because of my house”, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.
This reminds me so much of the church today. Many people get saved and start on a journey for God with a burning fervor only to quickly allow their priorities to change. They start out with a desire to be in the house of God every time the doors open. They want to work in the church. They are willing to be the janitor if that is all that is left, but the lust of the flesh soon draws them away and they find themselves in the same situation as did this little remnant of people Haggai had the obligation to preach to.
This little group of Jewish people had been back to their homeland 16 years before Haggai first spoke out. They came with the specific intention of rebuilding the ruined temple of their God. They quickly laid the foundation of the temple and then their enthusiasm faded. They not only had abandoned the work on the temple; they had used the building fund they brought with them to make their own little community self-sufficient. They quit trusting God and started trusting in their own flesh. They shifted from re-building God’s house to preparing houses to live in and clearing fields for their own crops. Haggai’s call was a call to recommitment.
Haggai 1:9-10 – Is a reminder to put God first. We must be willing to sacrifice if we want the blessings of God.
A very short man wanted to drive a nail in his wall to hang a picture. He stood on a chair, but it was not high enough. His wife placed a box on the chair, but he was still short of his goal. So a stool was piled on top of the box. Balancing precariously, the do it yourself picture hanger began to tap timidly with his hammer. “Why don’t you hit it hard?” asked his wife, “You’ll never drive the nail that way!” Our hero looked down from his perch to reply, “How can a man hit anything hard on a shaky foundation like this?”
Have the foundations of any special commitment to God been laid in our own lives, foundations which we have not built upon, while we go about other business?
We must build upon our foundation with faith. Faith in God brings peace of mind and heart because we know that we belong to Him and we know that one-day all pain and suffering will be gone.
Faith is inviting God’s Holy Spirit to live within us. It is not just an act of the mind, but it taps us into the very resources of God, so that we have the power to live in an entirely new way.
Many people in the Bible whom we consider to be “pillars of faith” had moments of doubt. The key is to never give up on our faith and to always ask if, our lives have been moving closer to or farther away from God. Even during moments of doubt, we must invest the effort and discipline to allow our faith to grow. We are to build upon our spiritual foundation with enthusiasm.
H.W. Arnold said: The only thing in life achieved without effort is failure. The worst bankrupt in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm.
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm. Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939)
When we fail to set priorities, we will stop doing what is right in God’s eyes. We are to build upon our spiritual foundation with commitment. Today Christianity seems to be less a matter of commitment and more a matter of convenience. Guidance means I can count on God. Commitment means God can count on me. Many can be interested in God’s will, but He is seeking a total commitment from us.
Once a chicken and a pig took a trip together. After many miles and many hours on the road, they got hungry. Finally, the sharp-eyed chicken spotted a restaurant. Approaching the door they read a sign, which said, “Ham and Eggs: Our Specialty!” “Hold it!” shouted the pig. “What’s the matter?” asked the chicken. “Plenty. All they want from you is a contribution. They are asking me for total commitment!”
Mark 8:35 – For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
Example of a solid spiritual foundation: The words of a veteran: Paul built his life on the foundation of Christ. He experienced extreme hardship, trials and troubles, yet he spoke with confidence from knowing Christ personally.
Romans 8:27-28 – And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
When we have built on the Lord as our foundation we can follow the 4 messages of Haggai.
1st we are called on to build the Kingdom of God.
2nd We are called to remain faithful to God’s promises.
3rd we are called to be holy and enjoy God’s great provisions.
4th And to keep their hope set on the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom.
Copyright 2002 by Rev. Betty J. Lester
