(Picking up from where we left off yesterday...)

God is not really interested in hearing about all the reasons and excuses as to why we ‘drifted’ or ‘backslid’ or ‘fell away’. I don’t mean to portray Him as being callused or insensitive and uncaring, but He’s just not wanting to hear about it. He already knows where we are at...and why we ended up in that place. The real question He’s asking us today is: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6-8)

We finished up yesterday looking at the remnant of folks who came out of Babylon to begin the restoration work on the temple of God after being ‘captives’ for 70 years. They got off to a good start, like many of us do when we ‘first come to Him’, but then...’life happens’. Jesus gave quite the illustration as to what takes place in our hearts when we first hear God's word ...when He shared the parable of the sower, in Matt. 13 and Mark 4 and Luke 8. Part of that enlightens us to how ‘Satan comes immediately to steal God’s word from our hearts...lest we believe and are saved’ (Luke 8:11-12). And we saw this happen with those people who got the foundation laid, but then here came the enemy to 'frustrate their plans and discourage them’...and the work came to a standstill. (Ezra 4:1-5,24). Might that describe anyone reading here today?

Now it’s the first two verses in chapter 5 that you have to read slowly, and then stop. We learn that a prophet by the name of Haggai shows up, delivers a message to the people, and then all of a sudden...we are told they ‘rose up and began to build the house of God’. Say what? Talk about an inspiring ‘Ted Talk’ that rallied the troops once again! Wouldn’t you like to get a copy of that sermon? Guess what...we have it, found in the Book of Haggai, of all places.

To the best of my calculations, the time period that had lapsed from when they stopped working...to when they picked up their tools and began to build again (Ezra 5:2) was somewhere between 12-18 years. Imagine for a moment the frustration you might have if you hired a contractor to start work on your new ‘dream home’...and after they got the foundation laid and the concrete cured...off he goes on a 15 year fishing trip. Yeah...God was not real happy either. And that takes us to Haggai 1...

And God spoke: “The people say...the time has not come to build My house...” (1:2); to which God then points out: “Oh...but you have time to dwell in your paneled homes while My temple lies in ruins?” (1:4). It seems as if they get a quick lesson enlightening them as to why life seems to have come to a standstill for them, as a people...always working but never seeming to get ahead (1:5-11). Sounds like a rut to me, that we can all relate to. Are you familiar with a message Jesus shared about how we toil and worry about ‘our lives’... anxious over what we will eat and drink and what we will wear for clothing, etc. (Matt. 6:25-31)? And then came that reminder that our Father ‘knows we have need of these things...and we are to seek first His kingdom AND HIS righteousness...and these things will be added to us.” (Matt. 6:32-33)

Yeah...that was pretty much the same message Haggai was delivering to the people who had veered off course pursuing what became the most important thing to them; and they were no better off for it. God even tells them to ‘consider your ways’ (Hag. 1:8) and then...”get back to building the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.”

Friends...how is God ‘glorified’ today in our lives? Answer: When we ‘bear much fruit’ (John 15:8), and that can only come about when we are ‘abiding in Him’ (John 15:1-8).

So apparently Zerubbabel and other leaders take God’s prodding to heart and ‘obey the voice of the Lord’ (1:12-15) as they rally the troops, thanks to the presence of God who stirred their hearts and promised to be with them. And they got back to the business of God and started working on the temple once again. I want to take my time with this because there is much to glean here in this next chapter, but please note: we cannot underestimate the significance in abiding in God’s presence, where there is perfect peace and joy. But that doesn’t mean the enemy won’t talk to you and try to coax you out... through one means or another.

Please underline or highlight Haggai 1:14 that tells us “the Lord stirred up ...the spirit of all the remnant of people...”. When we come to that place of recognizing that our ways fall short and lead us nowhere, that place of coming to the ‘end of ourselves’ as the old saying goes...it is then we can find the beginning of God. It’s called ‘repentance’, and repentance always brings us back into God’s presence. James explains how this happens in James 4:7-10. We see this take place in the life of that prodigal son (Luke 15:20); and Peter reminds us that “after we have repented...the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord...” (Acts 3:19). Why even Moses understood the value and significance of abiding in God’s presence and he did not want to be anywhere outside of that ‘secret place’ we read about in Ps. 91:1-2 (Ex. 33:12-17)

You have no idea how much this story resonates with me, personally. Five and a half years ago, it’s like God sent a ‘Haggai’ into my life to ‘stir up my spirit’. I too, was living in my ‘paneled house’...busy with my business and ‘life’ and just existing, while the work that God had begun in me years ago...laid dormant. And for the record, you don’t have to be out ‘tearing up the town living like a wild sinner’ in order to see God’s work come to a standstill in your life. If you are not abiding in Jesus, and I mean truly abiding in Him...then you are not in a good place. You may have a ‘form of godliness’, like those folks in 1 Cor. 13:1-3 and Matt. 7:22 had (2 Tim. 3:1-7) but you have still ‘fallen way short’ of seeing and experiencing God being glorified in your life.

Can anyone reading here today...relate to this? And if so...please don’t make this about whether one is still ‘saved’ or not. That is such a distracting ‘rabbit hole’ to go down. Let me say it once more...If you are not abiding in Jesus (1 John 2:6; 3:6-9; 5:18; John 15:1-8), then you are not in a good place. But you can be. And I found that ‘place’ when God brought an ‘awakening’ to my soul in those early days prior to the pandemic sweeping across our country. And I’ll never be the same again. I will also tell you that it is the promise we read about in chapter 2 of Haggai that God encourages the people with, both young and old alike, that will light a fire within your heart as well...if you will just give an ear to what the Spirit is speaking to many people today. Join me tomorrow?