July 20, 2024

Passage Read: Haggai 1 - Zechariah 2
Meditation Verses: Haggai 1:2-9

Thought

The Lord had brought Israel back from captivity, and they had started to rebuild the temple, but then quit. They turned to build their own houses, to expand them. They found their farming to be of limited success, so they spent more time trying to increase their harvest, though nothing worked. They didn't realize the Lord was working against them. They thought their own prosperity was more important than building the Lord's house. They thought that until they were prospering, it wasn't yet time to build the Lord's house. The temple was to them like a luxury, not a necessity. They had food to eat, but not much excess. What God wanted was for them to make Him and His house the priority, then He would bless the work of their hands; until they did so, He would curse the work of their hands.

Application

How often I have heard others say that first we have to meet basic survival needs, then we can teach people to believe in Jesus. But what if the reason people struggle to survive is because they do not walk in obedience to God? Many who live in luxury reject the Lord too, but their prosperity blinds them to their need. But this message is to all those who think they have to get their circumstances in order before they can serve the Lord. My poverty is no excuse not to serve the Lord; in fact, my poverty may be caused by my lack of serving the Lord! I'm called to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, not seek them secondly. And if I seek first His kingdom and righteousness, He will add to me everything I need. I don't need a big, fancy house. I don't need lots of fancy food. I need sufficient to survive. So anyone who has more then enough to live on should be investing heavily in advancing the kingdom of God, because they have no excuse whatsoever; in fact, they've been so overly blessed that they owe God an incredible debt! No matter how bad my circumstances may be, they are never an excuse to not serve the Lord and build His kingdom. No matter how bad or good my circumstances are, building God's kingdom always needs to be my priority.