Aimee’s Random Thoughts: Book of Haggai

08 August 2006

Book of Haggai

Warning: Don’t read this post. It’s too long and quite possibly very boring. You have better things to do with your time. Go away. Check woot—maybe they have something wonderful that you cannot live without today. Whatever you do, do not read this post.

There, now you’ve been warned.

I'm currently reading/studying the book of Haggai in the Bible. Very interesting stuff. Well, actually, it's pretty boring on one level. It's the story of how the people of Israel were inspired to rebuild the temple - again. yawn.... Except, (just like everything in the Bible) it can be read on multiple levels. It is the story of hearing God's voice, obeying it, being encouraged by God, and being blessed by God.
Here’s The Message version with my thoughts and some of the things I think the Holy Spirit is teaching me through this part of God's word.
1 On the first day of the sixth month of the second year in the reign of King Darius of Persia, God's Message was delivered by the prophet Haggai to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak: So, basically, this part is saying Haggai is delivering a message from God to Zerubbabel and Joshua. (I had to read this first verse about 5 times really slowly to figure out what was being said. I like the NLT version—it just gives a date: August 29 of the second year of King Darius’ reign. Much easier for me to process!)
2 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: : I love the phrase, “God-of-the-Angel-Armies.” I'm a girl—I don't think about armies and battles very much, except when I'm playing with my sons or watching them play. LOL But, God is mighty and powerful beyond anything we can imagine. And there are battles and wars being fought in the spiritual realm that we have no concept of. God is the God of butterflies and kittens and God is the God-of-the-Angel-Armies. How cool is that?! “The people procrastinate. They say this isn't the right time to rebuild my Temple, the Temple of God.” When I read these two sentences I immediately thought of I Corinthians 6:19 “Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.” Could my body be the temple being referred to here? (I know historically this is referring to the actual Temple of God in Israel that was in ruins. But, I'm reading Haggai and trying to understand how God is speaking to me in this day and age—and I'm pretty sure God is not telling me to hop on a plane, go to Israel and join a construction crew—but, you know, I'm trying to be open...) The idea that the temple is referring to my physical body fascinates me because I am someone who continually struggles with caring for my body in a God-honoring way. I know what I should do (I should work out, I should eat healthy all the time, I should get enough rest, I should learn to de-stress, etc...) but I just don't. I continue to choose my vices rather than my God.
3 Shortly after that, God said more and Haggai spoke it: 4 “How is it that it's the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God's Temple, is in ruins?”
5 And then a little later, God-of-the-Angel-Armies spoke out again:
“Take a good, hard look at your life.
Think it over.
6 You have spent a lot of money,
but you haven't much to show for it.
You keep filling your plates,
but you never get filled up.
You keep drinking and drinking and drinking,
but you’re always thirsty.
You put on layer after layer of clothes,
but you can’t get warm.
And the people who work for you,
what are they getting out of it?
Not much—
a leaky, rusted-out bucket, that’s what.
Wow. Could God be speaking any more directly to me here? I don't think so! I spend, I eat, I drink, I dress. Am I seeking God in any of these ordinary activities? Most of the time, no. I am just a leaky, rusted-out bucket. Not good for anything!
7 That’s why God-of-the-Angel-Armies said:
“Take a good, hard look at your life.
Think it over.”
Psalm 139:23-24(NLT)
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me on the path of everlasting life.
Dangerous prayer... It can be very painful to discover who you really are. But it can lead to amazing growth.
8 Then God said:
“Here's what I want you to do:
Climb into the hills and cut some timber.
Bring it down and rebuild the Temple.
Do it just for me. Honor me.”
Colossians 3:17 (niv) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Everything we do should be for God, only for God. As my friend Josie Belton frequently says, “Let God be the only one in your grandstand.” 9 You’ve had great ambitions for yourselves,
but nothing has come of it.
The little you have brought to my Temple
I've blown away—there was nothing to it.
Cain’s offering was not accepted by God. (Genesis 4: 3-5) Why do I always assume that God will accept everything that comes from my hand. I like the image of Jesus surrounded by the children, but not the image of the angel with the flaming sword keeping Adam & Eve out of Eden.
“And why?” (This is a Message from God-of-theAngel-Armies, remember.) “Because while you’ve run around, caught up with taking care of your own houses, my Home is in ruins. 10 That’s why. Because of your stinginess. And so I’ve given you a dry summer and a skimpy crop. 11 I've matched your tight-fisted stinginess
Matthew 7:2 (niv) For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Bryan read a book of poetry for his preaching class recently.
Swift, Lord, You Are Not by Kilian McDonnell
The poem Things I Dread was a powerful commentary on this verse:
Lifting the edge of the blanket
they will see my unwashed feet.
Gid has a photographic memory.
The dragon at the gate does not sleep.

Climbing the North face of Everest.
The shadow wolves are not a mirage.
Before the end of the road just stops.
And, most of all, I fail at dying.

To be honest, all these I can manage,
though it is one damn bother.
But the ultimate terror: I will be measured
with the measure I measured out.

by decreeing a season of drought, drying up fields and hills, withering gardens and orchards, stunting vegetables and fruit. Nothing—not man or woman, not animal or crop—is going to thrive."
I know that God is unchanging, but this God—the one who sends hardship and difficulty is hard for me to understand. I know a lot of people preach “health and wealth”—if you do all the right things then God will bless you with earthly riches. And a lot of the book of Haggai would seem to support that idea. But, I just can’t believe that’s all there is to God’s blessing. Mainly because I’ve been blessed in ways that are way beyond just “health and wealth.” I would much rather have the true peace and joy that come from God’s hand than be rich in material goods. Not that rich is bad—I wouldn’t mind being rich! lol But, there’s just so much more to be had in this life.
12 Then the governor, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the people with them listened, really listened, to the voice of their God. When was the last time we “listened, really listened, to the voice of our God.” I can count on one hand the times that I have listened and immediately obeyed what God wanted for me. And I can also say that those times have produced the greatest blessings in my life. I want very much to become a person who listens all the time to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.
When God sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honored God. And when was the last time I listened to someone who was sent by God? I don’t know.
13 Then Haggai, God’s messenger, preached God’s Message to the people: “I am with you!” God’s Word. The most powerful of all words. Emmanuel—The Living God is with us.
14 This is how God got Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people moving—got them working on the Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 15 This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. It took 23 days from when God first started speaking through Haggai about the temple to when the people actually started working. That's really pretty quick.
1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of God came through the prophet Haggai: “Tell Governor Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak 2 and all the people: 3 ‘Is there anyone here who saw the Temple the way it used to be, all glorious? And what do you see now? Not much, right?
4 “‘So get to work, Zerubbabel!’” God is speaking.
“‘Get to work, Joshua son of Jehozadak—high priest!’
“‘Get to work, all you people!’” The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking!
5 ‘Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. The covenant? Genesis 29:45-46 “I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I am the one who brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God.” I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don’t be timid. Don’t hold back!’ I love how God encourages the Israelites here. It is as if he is speaking directly to me. “Don’t be timid and don’t hold back! You have nothing to be afraid of. I am with you always. You can do everything I ask you.”
6 “This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies said: ‘Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields. 7 And I’ll shake down all the godless nations. They’ll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.’ God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.
8 ‘I own the silver,
I own the gold.’
Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
9 “‘This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.’ Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.”
Romans 6:19b “Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.” Becoming a slave of righteousness must include listening to and obeying the voice of God. We choose to be whole and holy when we choose God’s way. But, the ultimate wholeness and holiness comes through the temple of Jesus Christ—that is the ultimate glorious finish. That is where we become complete and whole, umblemished and perfect.
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (again, this was in the second year of Darius), God’s Message came to Haggai: 11 “God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: Consult the priests for a ruling. 12 If someone carries a piece of sacred meat in his pocket, meat that is set apart for sacrifice on the altar, and the pocket touches a loaf of bread, a dish of stew, a bottle of wine or oil, or any other food, will these foods be made holy by such contact?”
The priests said, “No.”
13 Then Haggai said, “How about someone who is contaminated by touching a corpse—if that person touches one of these foods, will it be contaminated?”
The priests said, “Yes, it will be contaminated.”
14 Then Haggai said, “‘So, this people is contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.’ God says so. I don't fully understand all the Jewish laws of clean and unclean. Sometimes they seem very rigid and pointless to me. But, I do know that I am unclean. I am sin-stained and contaminated.
15 “‘Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple, 16 how did it go with you? Isn’t it true that your foot-dragging, halfhearted efforts at rebuilding the Temple of God were reflected in a sluggish, halfway return on your crops—half the grain you were used to getting, half the wine? 17 I hit you with drought and blight and hail. Everything you were doing got hit. But it didn’t seem to faze you. You continued to ignore me.’ God's Decree.
18 “‘Now think ahead from this same date—this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched. 19 Has anything in your fields—vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree—failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing’” There it is again—sounds like the “health and wealth” philosophy. Maybe this really works for others. The whole Prayer of Jabez thing seemed to be very popular. I must admit that it is very appealing—God will bless me with riches if I obey him. But, if I'm obeying Him—I mean, truly obeying him, then earthly riches aren't going to matter to me. I'm struggling to really understand this. Can you tell? :) 20 God’s Message came a second time to Haggai on that most memorable day, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month: 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah:
“‘I am about to shake up everything, to turn everything upside down and start over from top to bottom—overthrow governments, destroy foreign powers, dismantle the world of weapons and armaments, throw armies into confusion, so that they end up killing one another. 23 And on that day’”—this is God’s Message—‘“I will take you, O Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, as my personal servant and I will set you as a signet ring, the sign of my sovereign presence and authority. I’ve looked over the field and chosen you for this work.’” The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
I think that once again we are looking forward in time to Jesus. (But, I could be wrong.) The most interesting part of this to me is that Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, is also the grandson of Jehoiachin. (yeah, I know, woo-hoo! so exciting!) Really. Here's why. Read Jeremiah 22:24: “And as surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.”
quote a line from the Veggie Tale movie Jonah “God is a God of Second Chances.” And I guess that sums up the whole book for me. God is not only willing to give me a second chance (and a third, fourth, etc...) he wants to give me a second chance. He loves us more than we can ever imagine. He will continue to constantly whisper in our ears. When we still ourselves enough to not only hear His voice, but to listen and understand and respond to it then He can bless us with His richest blessings. And this cycle continues on in time until all good things are finally fulfilled in Christ.

Ephesians3:14-19—My prayer for you.
When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Labels: God

posted by Aimee @ 2:36 PM

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