June 29, 2023
Passage Read: Haggai 1 - Zechariah 2
Meditation Verses: Haggai 2:18-19
Thought
Haggai began prophesying on the first day of the sixth month, and 24 days later the leaders and the people responded in obedience and began building the temple of the Lord again. It took some time for them to repent, but it was far quicker than their forefathers who never repented! Yet it was another three months, to the day, that the Lord finally sent word that He would withdraw their punishment and start bringing a blessing. He didn't relent right away, but waited three months, in effect, to see if their repentance was genuine. The people had to persist in their new obedience and faith before the Lord honored and rewarded them.
Application
The Lord knows us so well. We might be quick to make changes when rebuked, but the changes only last a short time. And we want praise and honor as soon as we make changes, but our change isn't genuine, but only to get the authority off our backs! Or repentance is only skin deep, for show, not from the heart. God wants real change, genuine change that lasts, change from the roots up, from the heart. So His praise and blessing don't come right away. He watches and waits. Will we complain because He didn't notice our new behavior right away? Didn't commend us early on? That becomes our excuse for giving up. And we reveal that the change wasn't genuine to begin with, so God was right to withhold His praise and not withdraw His discipline. He wants genuine repentance when He rebukes me, real change of thinking and believing that brings changed behavior. When He calls me out on something, whatever change I make needs to be permanent, from the start, without thought of reward or honor, because I'm in the wrong and need to start doing what's right. That doesn't require a reward or praise, it requires my changed behavior!