Haggai chapter 1 (New Living Translation)
On August 29 of the 2nd year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord gave a message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’
Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you!
You have planted much but harvest little.
You eat but are not satisfied.
You drink but are still thirsty.
You put on clothes but cannot keep warm.
Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.
You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why?
Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.
This scripture uncannily describes my life to date; my financial situation. I work so hard and still don’t have much to show for it. I am so intelligent, consistently top of any class I’m in and yet I do not see the effect of that intelligence in my status in life. I’m constantly trying to keep up, measure up, try harder and yet, I’m so far off my peers and I wonder why life is so unfair…
On one hand, I am dumbfounded by what I read in Haggai, but clear headed on the other. My first question was ‘Lord why would YOU be the one blowing away my harvest? Why would YOU call a drought to ruin everything I have worked so hard to get?’
It’s hard for me to understand that my present situation is orchestrated by God and not by the demons I keep binding daily nor by my failure to prophesy riches and wealth into my life.
On the other hand, I realize that in deciding to follow after the Lord, I walk a different pathway and I'm measured by a different yardstick. My measure demands that I honour Him and for Him honour involves complete worship; the singing and raising up of holy hands, the praying, the bible study, the fellowship and yes, the giving to Him the first fruits of my labour. See how He says it in verse 8 ‘Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.
I’m wondering why God has not been honoured so far in my giving for yes, I think I have been giving and yet He blew my harvest away. Where is the disconnect?
In Malachi 1 verses 6 – 14 (please read the entire scripture, for I present fragments of it here), God reiterates the importance of His honour relative to our giving, but much more than giving, for He is not in need of anything, He seeks a giver who puts Him first above and beyond their personal needs.
‘a son honours his father and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due me? If I am a master where is the respect due me? Says the Lord Almighty…
You place defiled food on my altar. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?
How often these days do we give God the dregs of our lives and our substances. Often, when we are spent, we look for that which no one wants and give the reject to the Lord. That’s the crippled and blind animal. We dishonor God in our hearts even before we bring the offering, for if we honoured Him or had any regard for Him, we would give to Him first. That’s the honour God seeks. He wants to be first – the priority in our service, our worship and our substance.
In verse 14 he says ‘cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in His flock and vows to give it but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great King says the Lord Almighty and my name is to be feared among the nations…
How many times have we made vows to the Lord and suspend those vows when our needs press on us? And yes our needs are important no doubt – we need to pay rent, school fees, medical bills, new clothes, a holiday abroad, jewelry, invest in businesses, stock markets, treasury bills and bonds. These and more are all legitimate human needs; still God seeks to be first. How can we continue living in luxurious houses, upgrading our lives while God’s house and indeed his business take a back seat? If only we would receive the revelation, the courage to put Him first, to go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild His house so that He may take pleasure in it and be honored, then we will see how He blesses and provides for us in every way.
Then we will plant and harvest bountifully.
We will eat and be satisfied.
We will drink and quench our thirst.
We will put on clothes and find warmth in them.
Our wages will no longer disappear and everything we work for He will multiply.
Just Honour God.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
THE LORD'S TROUBLES
Before I got saved, I heard about the love of God. I heard how He loved us so much; He gave His only son as a sacrifice for our sins. I heard how great that love was such that if I was the only sinner on earth, He would still have sent His son to die in my place. I heard that if I asked anything in His name, He would give me and if I sinned at anytime, He would be faithful and just to forgive my sins. This is all true. I know more than most the abundance of God’s love, His tender mercies, His compassion and faithfulness.
But after he has wooed you (and me) and groomed you (and me), then what? Would I continue to sin so that grace would continue to abound? Would I continue to ask and receive and never give anything back?
And then as I got to know Him better, I started to face challenges, struggles and unanswered prayers. That was when I read about the Lord’s trouble. Do you remember the story of the exodus of God’s children from Egypt to the Promised Land? Did you read Exodus chapter 5? Did you see that even after Moses had obeyed God and relayed His message to Pharaoh, the children of Israel were subjected to more hardship rather than the deliverance they had cried to Him for. This is what Moses said to the Lord in verses 22 & 23: Lord why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have you delivered your people at all!!!
Before Moses spoke to Pharaoh, the children of Israel were crying under great hardship and bondage. They were calling to God for deliverance. After Moses spoke to Pharaoh, the children of Israel faced even tougher times. More hardship and I guess, they cried more, but eventually the deliverance came. If it was deliverance they wanted and cried to God for why then did they have to pass through more hardship to get there?
Did you read Paul’s own story? Read 2 Corinthians 11 verses 23 – 27: Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have travelled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
Trust me, Paul the learned fellow before he met Jesus Christ did not go through any of this. But what keeps him going? The knowledge that we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
This is just a part of the big picture and I am privileged to play a part in it. I try to look beyond my selfishness and see that it’s all about Him for He must display His glory and that glory must cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. If He chooses to use me in anyway, to display that glory, then I am truly honoured, and only then - truly alive.
Like Paul, I’m learning to say: We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Life continues to be a battle-ground, but the Lord’s troubles bring victory. Ask the children of Israel. Pharaoh let them go! He chased them out bearing the riches of his land.
ID Ogufere, March 2010
But after he has wooed you (and me) and groomed you (and me), then what? Would I continue to sin so that grace would continue to abound? Would I continue to ask and receive and never give anything back?
And then as I got to know Him better, I started to face challenges, struggles and unanswered prayers. That was when I read about the Lord’s trouble. Do you remember the story of the exodus of God’s children from Egypt to the Promised Land? Did you read Exodus chapter 5? Did you see that even after Moses had obeyed God and relayed His message to Pharaoh, the children of Israel were subjected to more hardship rather than the deliverance they had cried to Him for. This is what Moses said to the Lord in verses 22 & 23: Lord why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have you delivered your people at all!!!
Before Moses spoke to Pharaoh, the children of Israel were crying under great hardship and bondage. They were calling to God for deliverance. After Moses spoke to Pharaoh, the children of Israel faced even tougher times. More hardship and I guess, they cried more, but eventually the deliverance came. If it was deliverance they wanted and cried to God for why then did they have to pass through more hardship to get there?
Did you read Paul’s own story? Read 2 Corinthians 11 verses 23 – 27: Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have travelled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
Trust me, Paul the learned fellow before he met Jesus Christ did not go through any of this. But what keeps him going? The knowledge that we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
This is just a part of the big picture and I am privileged to play a part in it. I try to look beyond my selfishness and see that it’s all about Him for He must display His glory and that glory must cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. If He chooses to use me in anyway, to display that glory, then I am truly honoured, and only then - truly alive.
Like Paul, I’m learning to say: We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Life continues to be a battle-ground, but the Lord’s troubles bring victory. Ask the children of Israel. Pharaoh let them go! He chased them out bearing the riches of his land.
ID Ogufere, March 2010
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