The world is an unsteady place. Our lives can be turned upside down in a moment. One event, one phone call, one diagnosis can shake us or shatter us. Sometimes God allows this shaking to reveal to us our own fragility and the fragility of the things we have built our lives upon. There are a few things we need to know when we are feeling shaken. First, while God may shake us God himself is is never shaken. Second, when God shakes the world, he does so with a plan and purpose in mind. Third, God’s shaking is ultimately done with the purpose of restoration and justice, God is working out a plan of redemption through Jesus that is our sure foundation.
The world is an unsteady place. Our lives can be turned upside down in a moment. One event, one phone call, one diagnosis can shake us or shatter us. Sometimes God allows this shaking to reveal to us our own fragility and the fragility of the things we have built our lives upon. There are a few things we need to know when we are feeling shaken. First, while God may shake us God himself is is never shaken. Second, when God shakes the world, he does so with a plan and purpose in mind. Third, God’s shaking is ultimately done with the purpose of restoration and justice, God is working out a plan of redemption through Jesus that is our sure foundation.
What do we think of when we think of a blessed life? Maybe it’s a spouse, two kids and a house that we own, maybe it’s a secure retirement or a fulfilling career. Whatever the word blessed conjures up for you, it almost certainly is tied in to our view of success. In God’s kingdom success is measured not in dollars, degrees or the applause of people it’s measured in obedience, faithfulness and holiness. Complete holiness and full obedience are the requirements to truly experience the blessing of God in our lives. Partial holiness is no holiness at all, good actions do not compensate for bad actions. To experience the fullness of God’s blessing in our lives we need to experience the holiness that only Jesus can provide.
Disappointment is the gap between our expectations and our reality. Disappointment is an inevitable reality in a broken world. Through Haggai God speaks a message of encouragement to a disappointed people. First, and most importantly he promises that He is with them. Second, He promises that despite how things may appear, He will use the temple they have reconstructed to make his glory known to the whole world. Third, God promises that He will provide the resources to complete the task to which he has called them. And finally he promises them a better future where reality won’t just meet their expectations it will exceed them.
Haggai was a post-exilic prophet sent by God to exhort the small community of Jewish people who had resettled in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity and exile. The community that had returned, returned to a city in ruins and a temple that had been destroyed. Their initial excitement and joy at returning quickly turned into a struggle just to get by. In the grind of trying to rebuild their lives and eke out a living the worship of God and the rebuilding of his temple quickly fell off the radar. Yet, the harder they worked the harder things seemed to get. In the midst of this God speaks to the people through Haggai to tell them that their dissatisfied lives were a direct result of disordered priorities and that in order to experience the lives of flourishing they had hoped for they needed to start by putting God first. The message God’s people then is the same as his message to his people today. Disordered priorities inevitably lead to dissatisfied lives but a satisfied heart starts with centering ourselves on God.
Haggai was a post-exilic prophet sent by God to exhort the small community of Jewish people who had resettled in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity and exile. The community that had returned, returned to a city in ruins and a temple that had been destroyed. Their initial excitement and joy at returning quickly turned into a struggle just to get by. In the grind of trying to rebuild their lives and eke out a living the worship of God and the rebuilding of his temple quickly fell off the radar. Yet, the harder they worked the harder things seemed to get. In the midst of this God speaks to the people through Haggai to tell them that their dissatisfied lives were a direct result of disordered priorities and that in order to experience the lives of flourishing they had hoped for they needed to start by putting God first. The message God’s people then is the same as his message to his people today. Disordered priorities inevitably lead to dissatisfied lives but a satisfied heart starts with centering ourselves on God.