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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