Thursday, September 15, 2016

Year 6, Day 258: Haggai 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here


Discipleship Focus: Obedience

  • Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Haggai opens with a stern warning.  God is unhappy with the people.  He has arranged for them to be able to return to their homeland under the Persian leadership.  He has arranged for them to have some resources with which they can even begin to rebuild their lives.  God is upset with them, however.  The people have returned home and have begun building a reasonably luxurious lifestyle for themselves.  This isn’t so much the problem.  The problem is that they are building luxurious homes and neglecting the temple, God’s home.

The leadership hears Haggai, however.  They repent.  They change their tune.  They commit to doing as the Lord asks.  They have an obedient heart in spite of their natural human disobedience.

The thing that I love about this chapter in Haggai is that it shows how much our obedience means to God.  As soon as the people repent, God sends Haggai with a second message.  We hear Haggai come to the people and tell them that they are forgiven and God is with them.  God knows that we have a streak of human disobedience.  He knows we are selfish and self-centered.  What matters to Him is not our corrupt nature but rather our desire to overcome that nature and obediently listen to Him.

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